Lindsey Vonn, 41, said she was willing to risk everything to become the oldest Alpine skiing medallist.

Not even rupturing the ACL in her left knee racing nine days before the event was going to stop the 41-year-old American.

"As long as there's a chance," she said after arriving in Italy, "I will try."

Hers was the most-anticipated event. It would have been even without the drama of the injury in Switzerland.

Even if you are not the biggest Winter Olympics fan, you probably know her name.

She came out of retirement last year at the age of 41, chasing the dream of a second Olympic gold to add to her 2010 downhill title.

Could her body cope? Not only with the fresh injury, but racing on a right knee that was rebuilt from an injury in 2013.

There was shock and despair in Cortina when she crashed 13 seconds out of the starting gate.

The fall may have been softened by the mandatory safety airbag that inflated after losing control, but screams could be heard from Vonn after landing awkwardly at high speed.

And in a repeat of the scenes witnessed nine days earlier in Crans-Montana, she was taken to hospital on a stretcher dangling from the bottom of a helicopter.

Medics will now be assessing the long-term damage caused following surgery on her broken left leg.

It could be a dramatic and horrific end to the career of one of the most successful female skiers of all time.

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And questions will be asked whether the American team should have allowed Vonn to compete and whether it was a risk too far.