Lindsey Vonn is the most accomplished skier in American history, an inspiration to young skiers everywhere. On Tuesday night, NBC will broadcast Vonn skiing for the gold in the downhill, her best event.
Check the close-ups of Vonn's helmet as you watch her get ready in the block, or after she finishes her run. You'll notice a message on her helmet, that is a source of emotional motivation Vonn. NBC's Mike Tirico went to Wisconsin last fall to interview Vonn and her grandfather, Don Kildow. He passed a couple of months after that interview, on November 7.
NBC has aired a feature on Vonn's bond with her grandfather, and from this we've come to know even more about Vonn's past and the things that pushed her to compete in the Olympics once more, even after a slew of debilitating injuries.
.@lindseyvonn's biggest inspiration at the 2018 #WinterOlympics will be the memory of her late grandfather, Don Kildow. #BestOfUS pic.twitter.com/HX9Oa57jKJ — NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 16, 2018
As keen viewers have noticed, Vonn's helmet has a little something written on it. Curious minds wondered what that might be. Look closely and you'll see a heart-shaped symbol followed by the letters "D" and "K" for Don Kildow. Vonn told reporters last week, when asked about her grandfather, that she was "going to win for him" while fighting back tears. What a great way for Vonn to pay homage to her grandfather, who also fought in the Korean War. The location of these Olympics only makes for that much more of a powerful experience for Vonn, who is almost certainly competing in her last Olympics.
Lindsey Vonn says she's out to win gold for her late grandfather, Don Kildow. Getty Images
Vonn has stated that much of her love of skiing can be traced back to her grandfather, who competed in ski jumping as a young man. You can easily understand why these Olympics are such an important part of Vonn's life and career.
As NBCOlympics.com notes, Vonn also has the Greek word for "believe" written on her right glove. She has the same word tattooed on her hand.
Vonn will race in the downhill on Tuesday night in the United States (Wednesday morning in South Korea). She took to the top of the podium in Vancouver in 2010, winning gold in the downhill eight years ago. If Vonn can pull of a medal-winning run, it may well be the most bittersweet win over her career. She'll have done it -- but without her grandfather able to be alive to see it.
Goggia came out of the gate slowly and was the 26th fastest — out of 31 racers who finished — in the first timed interval. But Goggia quickly settled into a confident, aggressive stance on her skis, which she repeatedly pressured for more and more speed. By the third interval, Goggia was fifth fastest in the field.
As it turned out, she was just finding her rhythm. By smoothly linking her turns and occasionally taking a more rounded approach to the gates, Goggia kept the flat bases of her skis on the snow surface for longer stretches. The payoff was the fastest time in each of the three final timed intervals.
When Vonn followed two skiers later, she was faster at the start but less fluid in the middle section. Her skis seemed on edge and rattling more often than Goggia’s, and after a bit of a miscue coming off the third jump in the course, Vonn trailed Goggia by nearly a half-second. She did not make up the time.
“I was maybe a little too precise with my line but it was a clean run,” Vonn said later. “Maybe I should have let the skis run a little more.
“But I didn’t ski stiff or nervous,” she added.
Vonn had dedicated her performance to her late grandfather, Don Kildow, who had helped teach her to ski. Kildow died in November.
“I desperately wanted to win for him and I wish he could have been here to watch,” she said. “But I still think he is watching and I think he’d still be proud of me.”
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Though not naturally introspective, Vonn seemed eager to use the occasion to reflect on her career.
“I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished in four Olympic Games because some of them were pretty difficult,” she said.
The United States has a fixation at the Olympics on winning gold. Lindsey Vonn showed Wednesday how to win bronze.
JEONGSEON, South Korea — The United States has a fixation at the Olympics on winning gold. Lindsey Vonn showed Wednesday how to win bronze.
Before they pointed their skis down the mountain, Italy’s Sofia Goggia, Vonn’s friend and No. 1 rival in the Olympic downhill, was asked who she — Goggia — thought was the favorite.
Vonn, Goggia said. “It’s like she has already made this. She knows how to do this.”
Goggia, instead, proved the one who knew Wednesday how to do it better.
Riding a conservative line up top and then letting it rip in the middle and bottom of the nearly 1.75 mile-long course, Goggia roared to Olympic gold in 1:39.22.
It appeared, after a wait of several minutes, that Vonn, who had the No. 7 start bib, Goggia No. 5, had silver locked up. “Anything can happen … there are no snowboarders in the race today!” Vonn quipped while waiting, a reference to the super-G and the Czech Ester Ledeczka’s surprise victory.
Then, though, Ragnhild Mowinckel, silver medalist in giant slalom for Norway’s first woman’s Alpine medal since 1936, running from the 19th position, snuck into second place, dropping Vonn to third. Mowinckel finished just nine-hundredths back. Mowinckel said, “It’s good to be the underdog!”
Vonn: 47-hundredths behind.
“Of course I would have liked a gold medal," Vonn said. "But, I mean, honestly, this is amazing, and I’m so proud.” During the post-race presentations, on the podium’s third-place level, Vonn smiled and waved and kissed her new plush toy Soohorang, the white tiger PyeongChang 2018 mascot.
“I skied a great race today,” Vonn also said. “Sofia just skied better than I did.”
Two Americans finished fifth and seventh: Alice McKennis and Breezy Johnson. Laurenne Ross finished 15th.
Goggia’s gold: the first for Italy in Olympic women’s downhill.
Vonn, 33, became the oldest female Alpine ski medalist. Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria was 32 years, 332 days in winning the super-G in Torino in 2006.
Vonn won super-G bronze in Vancouver in 2010. She is also the Vancouver downhill gold medalist.
For eight years, Vonn battled injury to get back to the Olympic downhill.
This World Cup season, Goggia and Vonn have waged a 1-2 battle in the downhill. All the same, they are, genuinely, friends. As Vonn put it: "We just enjoy going fast and enjoy competing against each other."
On Tuesday, Goggia said she had been struggling with a bothersome left knee. Stairs, she said, were hard. Skiing? That was OK:
“When I push off from the starting gate the world disappears, it doesn't matter, it doesn't count if you have pain or not. It just counts how you ski and I know I can do this, even though I am not so perfect."
After the race, Goggia said, "I’m happy about my performance. But it’s always an honor to race with Lindsey Vonn … I remember when she won in Vancouver and I said, 'I wish one day I can be there, racing at the top.'" She paused. "And I think I still haven't realized I am winning the gold medal in the downhill."
Vonn, feeling 100 percent for the first time in a long time, had said before racing she would “absolutely give it everything I have,” dedicating these Games to her grandfather, Don Kildow, who died in November.
After the race, Vonn said, “I don’t know, maybe I executed a little too well. I tried too hard to stay on a perfect line. I have no regrets."
She also said she hoped she had made her grandfather proud. Dabbing away tears, she said: "It’s sad. This is my last [Olympic] downhill. I wish I could keep going, you know? I had so much fun. I love what I do. My body just can’t — probably can’t — take another four years. But — I don’t know, I’m proud. I’m proud to have competed for my country. Proud to have given it my all. I’m proud to have … come away with a medal.”
Lindsey Vonn can't hear the haters over the celebration of another Olympic skiing medal
Nancy Armour | USA TODAY Sports
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Lindsey Vonn had the perfect response to the internet trolls.
She climbed yet another Olympic podium.
Vonn’s bronze in the women’s downhill Wednesday came after weeks of being the subject of scorn and vitriol for comments she made about President Trump. She has refused to back down from her views, and did so again after the race.
“I am proud of what I represent and who I am and I’m very proud to hold the American flag on the podium,” Vonn said. “All Americans deserve to hold the flag and to be proud of their country, no matter what their beliefs because that’s what makes America great.
“So I’m not beaten. I’m standing on the podium and, to me, I feel like I won a gold medal.”
More: Lindsey Vonn proves her mettle with a bronze in the downhill at 2018 Winter Olympics
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Vonn’s criticism of Trump was actually pretty tame. In a December interview with CNN, she said she would represent the American people, not their president, and hoped to be a good reflection of the country.
“I don’t think that there are a lot of people currently in our government that do that,” she said.
But there are people in this country who view any criticism of Trump as being tantamount to treason, and they went after Vonn with a vengeance. They referred to her in disparaging terms they would never dare utter in her presence. They delighted when she failed to win a medal in the Super-G.
One person even said they hoped Vonn would ski off a cliff and die.
It’s appalling treatment, especially for someone who has never done anything to embarrass her country. Or, as one foreign reporter described it Wednesday, “savage abuse.”
“I think social media can be used in a very positive way if you’re a good person,” Vonn said. “I feel like recently it’s just taken a different turn, and I hope it turns around. I hope that instead of tearing people down, we can build people up.
“That’s what sports is about. You’re supposed to be uplifting. This is the Olympics, where we cheer for every country. Instead of hoping that someone falls or skis off a cliff and dies.”
While the Trump supporters are a very vocal group – or maybe they just have better, more active bots – theirs is not the majority opinion. Vonn was cheered loudly by fans, many of whom waved American flags, and there were about 20 who waited two hours for the chance to get her autograph and a selfie.
A radio reporter told Vonn later that some fans had initially planned to go to other events Wednesday, but came to downhill instead to show their support for her.
“That makes me feel really good,” Vonn said. “For all the people that say bad things, there’s 10 more than say nice things. And it really means a lot to me. I mean, there were so many American flags in the stands, and we’re in South Korea. It’s not like we’re really that close to home.
“That’s what the Olympics are about. It’s the spirit of competition and it’s the spirit of representing your country and that really makes me happy.”
Let the haters hate. Vonn won't hear their criticism over the celebration of yet another Olympic medal.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.
