Instead of a smile, gold, and one of the greatest feats in skiing history, Lindsey Vonn left the slope in Cortina, Italy, in tears, on a stretcher.
An American skier and one of the biggest icons of winter sports was carried off the slopes in pain on the second day of the Winter Olympics after a nasty fall.
Just seconds after starting her performance, Vonn fell during her landing after making contact with an obstacle on the track.
She rolled for several dozen meters, after which she was left lying on the path with a painful grimace on her face, screaming and sobbing.
Spectators along the track were seriously concerned and watched in disbelief what was happening to Vonn, and silence fell in the audience, reports Jess Anderson, BBC reporter from Cortina.
Doctors then had a hard time removing Vaughn's skis from his feet, which is very difficult in a lying position, five-time Olympic skier Graham Bell explained to the BBC.
"He's in a lot of pain," Bell commented.
"This probably ended her return in the worst possible way," he said.
A stretcher soon arrived, and Vaughn was taken to the hospital by helicopter, which was greeted with applause from the audience.
The competition was suspended for 20 minutes while she was treated, and the competitors who competed after her had a hard time concentrating on the downhill, a BBC reporter reports.
For her dream of Olympic gold, Vonn did what most other athletes wouldn't - she took to the track just nine days after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee.
Although she was not given much chance of competing at the Winter Olympics, 41-year-old Vonn successfully completed training on Saturday and went out to compete on Sunday.
"She took every possible risk and proved in training that she could compete," Graham Bell told the BBC.
She also suffered a serious fall on January 30, a week before the start of the Winter Olympics, during a downhill race in Switzerland.
She then tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, and also has several other injuries, such as meniscus damage.
"After extensive consultations with doctors, intensive therapy, physical tests and skiing with a prosthesis, I have decided that I am ready to compete in the downhill on Sunday," Vonn announced on social media ahead of the Winter Olympics.
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Who is Lindsey Vonn?
- She was born on October 18, 1984 in Minnesota.
- She started skiing at a very young age, primarily under the influence of her father, and was long known as one of the world's greatest talents.
- She made her World Cup debut in 2000 as Lindsey Kildow. After marrying American skier Thomas Vonn, she took his last name. They divorced in 2013, but she remained Lindsey Vonn.
- Olympic downhill champion from Vancouver in 2010. At the same Games, she also won bronze in the super-G, and also won bronze in the downhill in Pyeongchang in 2018.
- As the winner of the downhill in Val d'Isère, France, she received a cow. When she was offered to sell it to the organizers for 5.000 euros, Vonn refused. She gave the cow to a man in Austria who was willing to take care of it. She named it Olympus
- A book Strength is the new beauty: Embrace your inner beauty, eat healthy, and nurture your power (Strong Is the New Beautiful: Embrace Your Natural Beauty, Eat Clean, and Harness Your Power), written in collaboration with Sarah Toland, was published in 2016.
- She also hosted the reality show The Pack, in which dogs and their owners competed in various challenges.
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