Lindsey Vonn blinked into the flashbulbs and blinked back the tears.

She’d said she’d turn down a trip to the White House if she won Olympic gold. Now she doesn’t have to worry the invitation, perhaps a silver – or should that be bronze – lining to these Games.

Vonn hit out a bullies who targeted her after she made comments which were critical of President Trump and insisted she wouldn’t change her views.

And while she couldn’t shut them up with the women’s downhill gold she wanted so badly – she was rightly proud of third place in her final Games.

“For all the people that say bad things there are ten more that say nice things,” she said.

“If you think what’s happened over the last eight years and what I’ve been through to get here, I gave it all and to come away with a medal is a dream come true.

“You’ve got to put things into perspective. Of course, I’d have loved a gold medal but, honestly, this is amazing and I’m so proud.”

Vonn has been battling with her emotions since arriving in South Korea, appearing to teeter on the edge of a breakdown in almost every interview.

She was moved to tears when discussing the memory of her late grandfather, her ski racing inspiration, who passed away in November and whose initials she wears on her helmet.

And the tears flowed again as the enormity of the occasion hit home – her final Olympic downhill race.

Vonn was attempting to become only the second skier after Germany’s Katja Seizinger to win two women’s Olympic titles in skiing’s blue riband event.

After winning gold in Vancouver – where she also took super-G bronze – she missed Sochi because of a knee injury and struggled for much of last season after breaking her arm and suffering nerve damage in her hand.

Just making these Games looked, to most observers, a distant possibility. But Vonn doesn’t listen to ‘most observers’.

She will compete again in the alpine combined event but she’s not expecting a medal. And she plans to ski another season – with just six victories needed to break retired Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark’s all-time record of 85 World Cup victories.

“I going to miss the Olympics and that’s why I’m so emotional,” she added.

“I love racing in the Olympics with so much pressure that you feel suffocated. However, you throw yourselves down that mountain with the hope of a medal.

“I just wish my body didn’t hurt as bad as it does. It’s sad, I love what I do, but my body just probably can’t take another four years. I’m just counting on some medical miracles to extend my career a bit longer.

“It was tough to contemplate this being my last Olympic downhill race. I struggled to keep the emotions together but I’m proud of my performance."

Can Team GB add to their four medals in the final days of competition? Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games at Eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app