Olympic downhill skier crashes after just four seconds

12 April 2012

Four years of training resulted in a four-second flop for France's Marion Rolland, the victim of an embarrassing fall just moments after leaving the starting gate in the women's downhill at the Vancouver Olympics.

Rolland dug her poles into the demanding Franz's downhill piste four times over the first few meters before she suddenly lost her balance and tumbled onto her right side as her left arm waved wildly in the air.

To make matters worse, the 27-year-old injured her knee in the process and had to be helped off the course.

A spokeswoman for the French team said: "Obviously morale is not too good."

Rolland finished fifth in the World Championships last year and is 7th in this season's World Cup downhill rankings.

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