US ski star Lindsey Vonn is a regular poster on social media but there was still no word on Monday night after her crash in the Olympic downhill which shocked the sporting world and left her having surgery on a broken leg. Olympic and ski bosses on Monday backed her decision to have raced despite an existing knee ligament tear.
US ski star Lindsey Vonn is a regular poster on social media but there was still no word on Monday night after her crash in the Olympic downhill which shocked the sporting world and left her having surgery on a broken leg.
Olympic and ski bosses on Monday backed her decision to have raced despite an existing knee ligament tear.
The US team has refused to detail her new injuries after the 41-year-old was airlifted to hospital on Sunday from one of her favourite pistes in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
But the Olympics website quoted the Ca’ Foncello Hospital in Treviso as saying in a statement: "Lindsey Vonn underwent orthopaedic surgery to stabilise a fracture in her left leg."
She was making an Olympic comeback having come out of retirement last year, with Sunday's race firmly in her focus.
Winning races on the World Cup circuit aged 41 and after being away from competitive skiing for years wowed fans, and she had legitimate hopes of winning a second Olympic gold 16 years after her first.
But the cruciate knee ligament tear which she said she sustained in Crans-Montana just over a week ago looked to have dashed her hopes. But as is her combative style, Vonn vowed to race anyway on Sunday with a brace on the knee - saying she was largely pain-free.
In the end, her Olympic downhill lasted 13 seconds before the crash, a scream of pain and a lengthy stoppage while she was being attended to.
Vonn's coach, former Norwegian great Aksel Lund Svindal, also gave no injury insight in an Instagram post in which he praised Vonn.
"Lindsey. You're incredibly brave. You inspire people that follow your journey and us that work closely with you every day. Yesterday was a tough day on the mountain. For everyone, but most of all for you," Svindal said.
"Still something happened that I think says everything. 'Tell Breezy congrats and good job'. Your teammate was in the lead, and that's the message you wanted the US skiteam coaches to remember before you got airlifted to the hospital. Real character shows up in the hard moments."
The world's press reacted on Monday with shock. Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport said it was a "nightmare day" for Vonn, with Swiss newspaper Blick stating: "No one wished this end for Lindsey Vonn."
US team-mate Breezy Johnson's gold was overshadowed by the crash and now the Olympic movement is hoping for a positive update following the surgery.
International Olympic Committee sports director Pierre Ducrey told a daily news briefing that he was "very happy" with the quick response of rescue services to Vonn's crash and that the IOC's thoughts were with her.
He added that it had been Vonn's decision to compete despite her original knee injury and she had proved her race worthiness in training.
"She was able to train and made the choice with the excellent team that she has to take part. So I don't think we should say she should or shouldn't have participated," he said.
His stance was backed by the president of skiing's governing body FIS.
"Many people have asked me if FIS should get involved in deciding (if athletes should race) and I firmly believe this has to be decided by the individual athlete," Johan Eliasch told reporters.
"In her case, she certainly knows her injuries better than anybody else. If you look around (at) the athletes yesterday, every single athlete has a small injury of some kind.
"What is also important for people to understand is that the accident that she had yesterday, she was incredibly unlucky. It was a one in 1,000. This is something which is part of ski racing. It's a dangerous sport."
Category: General Sports
