Cristiano Ronaldo sends classy message to Lindsey Vonn as American skier is discharged from hospital after horror fall at Winter Olympics

There were fears that Vonn may lose a leg at one stage, with amputation a very realistic concern, but some of the best medical minds in the business have helped to put her on the road to full recovery.

Scary scenes upfolded on the mountains of northern Italy just 13 seconds after Vonn opened another bid for gold medal glory. She has since undergone four major operations in Europe and another in her native United States - with the efforts of Dr Tom Hackett being applauded as he helped to prevent Vonn from losing a limb.

In an emotional post on social media, with Vonn finally able to leave hospital care, the 41-year-old - who suffered knee ligament damage a matter of weeks before the Olympic Games opened - said of the horrific injuries that she sustained: “I had a complex tibia fracture, I also fractured my fibula head and everything was in pieces, and the reason it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome is when you have so much trauma to one area of your body that there is too much blood and it gets stuck. It basically crushes everything in the compartment - muscles, nerves, tendons, it all kind of, dies. Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg, he saved my leg from being amputated.

“He did what is called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg, let it breathe, and he saved me. I always talk about everything happening for a reason. If I hadn't torn my ACL, which I would have done anyway in this crash, Tom [Hackett] wouldn't have been there, he wouldn't have been able to save my leg. I feel very lucky and grateful for him, for this six-hour surgery he put in to rebuild it, which went amazingly well. I was in the hospital a little longer than I hoped because I had very low haemoglobin from the blood loss from all the surgeries.

“I was really struggling, the pain was a little bit out of control and I had to have a blood transfusion. That helped me a lot and I turned the corner and now I am out. I am in a wheelchair right now, I am very much immobile, and I will be in a wheelchair for a while because I also broke my right ankle. I hope I can be on crutches in a little bit but we will see, and I will probably be on crutches for at least two months. But I'll get right to work on rehab and see what I can do and take it one step at a time, like I always do.”

Messages of support have flooded in for Vonn, with Portuguese superstar Ronaldo among those to offer words of encouragement. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward, who is still going strong at Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr, knows all about competing at the highest level beyond a 40th birthday.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner said in the comments section of Vonn’s post: “Champions are defined by the moments they win, and the moments they refuse to give up. Lindsey Vonn, the mountains you conquered were never bigger than the strength you carry. Keep fighting. Legends always rise.”

After a gruelling fortnight of operations and medical care, Vonn is happy to be heading home. She added on opening a lengthy rehabilitation programme: “Now I will focus on rehab and progressing from a wheelchair to crutches in a few weeks.

“It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL. It will be a long road but I'll get there. At least I'm out of the hospital. Love you all.”

Ronaldo has been able to avoid serious injuries over the course of his record-shattering career. That has allowed him to play beyond the age of 41, with the evergreen frontman far from being finished as he targets a place in Portugal’s squad at the 2026 World Cup and sees another move mooted - potentially to join Lionel Messi in MLS - after taking strike action in the Middle East.