SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Australia's best hope for its first-ever gold medal at the Winter Olympics is gone.
Freestyle skiing star Jacqui Cooper Monday suffered her second major injury in a year Monday, tearing the ACL in her left knee while attempting a patented trick during a training run.
Cooper was landing a lay-full-full when the tails of her skis dug into the mountain, forcing her to fall back awkwardly. She later told doctors she heard something pop.
The three-time defending World Cup champion was treated on-site and taken by ambulance to a clinic, where an MRI confirmed the ligament tear, a small fracture of the tibia and extensive bone bruising.
Australian Olympic liaison Ian Chesterman described the accident as "tragic and devastating" -- so much so that an emotional Cooper did not attend a Monday night news conference.
The 29-year-old Cooper was expected to give Australia its first medal in Winter Olympic competition on Saturday, but was on crutches in the athletes' village Monday night.
"Obviously, she's devastated by the occurrence," Chesterman said.
Although Chesterman said Cooper's spirits weren't broken, just about everything in her leg was. Team physician Dr. Peter Braun called the ligament tear one of the worst possible.
"She's talking 12 months," said Braun, a former freestyle skier. "Anything less is a bonus."
It is another major setback for Cooper, who will go home empty-handed from the Olympics for the second time, having failed to qualify for the final round in 1998 at Nagano.
"The Olympics, so far, haven't worked out well for me," Cooper said in a statement. "Nagano was bad, but this was a whole lot worse."
