Winter Olympian Lindsey Vonn has been warned about her health by a doctor after she suffered a horror crash at the Milan Cortina course, requiring her to be airlifted to hospital.
The American skier was seen screaming in agony on live TV after she suffered a ‘complex tibia fracture’ in the downhill final.
The 41-year-old had previously announced that she had injured her knee, rupturing her ACL and bruising her bone.
She received backlash, with some speculating she had hurt her ACL before that time, allowing her to bounce back on the slopes.
The sports legend announced on social media: “My ACL was fully functioning until last Friday. Just because it seems impossible to you doesn’t mean it’s not possible. And yes, my ACL is 100% ruptured. Not 80% or 50%. It’s 100% gone.”
Then came her crash on February 8, which saw her need multiple surgeries as she continues to receive treatment.
However, one orthopedic expert knee specialist in Lyon, France, has issued her an urgent warning about her condition.
Dr Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet said she could face amputation, telling RMC Sport: “The timeline is quite unpredictable. It will be months before she can walk normally again.
“Her goal now is first and foremost to keep her leg and be able to walk. I think we’re not yet at the stage of returning to high-level skiing. We’re not there yet, but some injuries like hers can end in amputation…”
He went on to add that if she doesn’t have an amputation, her life will still need to be adjusted due to her injuries, and referenced her own posts online.
He continued: “The latest images posted on her Instagram account show that, even though the surgeries were successful, the ‘external fixator’ – that is, the enormous pin they put in her left leg – proves that they haven’t been able to fully repair her fracture.
“It’s only temporary for now. It’s important to understand that her injury is extremely serious and will cause her problems for at least months, and could even leave her with lifelong consequences.”
Scarily, he revealed the type of injury Vonn has is commonly seen in motorcyclists who are involved in a traffic collision.
While it has been suggested her previous ACL made her more susceptible to injury, Vonn insists that the injury had nothing to do with hurting her leg in the games.
She said online: “My Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a storybook ending or a fairy tale; it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it.
“Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulting in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.”
Her full statement reads: “Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.
“While it did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate was an incredible feeling that I will never forget.
“Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport. And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall.
“Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is also the beauty of life; we can try. I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.
“I hope that if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all dare to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying. I believe in you, just as you believed in me. LV.”