Lindsey Vonn has "no regrets" after sustaining a broken leg in her Winter Olympics crash

Vonn - who had ruptured ligaments in her left knee just days before the Games - wrote on Instagram on Monday (09.02.26): "Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would.

"It wasn't a story book ending or a fairytale, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it.

"While yesterday 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 yesterday 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."

Vonn's decision to compete at the Olympics attracted a mix of opinions - with some praising her courage and others suggesting that she was putting herself in danger - but she claimed that her knee injury "had nothing to do" with the crash.

The 2010 Winter Olympics gold medallist wrote: "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 hope if you take away anything from my journey it's that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying.

"I tried. I dreamt. I jumped."