MissPOPULARITY
“The Tonight Show,” the Emmy Awards… Lindsey
Vonn’s vault to fame brings a new awareness of
ski racing to mainstream America BY SHAUNA FARNELL
Is Lindsey Vonn the most popular ski racer in American history? That sort of thing is difficult
to quantify, but there’s no arguing that the two-time world champion and overall World Cup
winner has brought a lot of new attention to the sport of ski racing from a country that prefers
pro football, basketball and baseball.
“To gain popularity and to be recognized, you have to have a lot of success in your chosen
field,” said USSA President and CEO Bill Marolt. “Lindsey has had wonderful success, especially over the last couple of years. Plus, you look at the total person and what she does with
her personal and professional approach with sponsors, donors, fans, parents, media … She
wants to be a role model and that works well with the American public. She’s just developed
this really positive image of herself.”
Of course, her looks don’t hurt. The sport of ski racing couldn’t ask for a sunnier representative. And though the ski racing community has followed Vonn for years, with this Olympic
season approaching, and considering that most of America knows little to nothing about the
World Cup or world championships and perceives an Olympic medal as the ultimate goal for
athletes in sports like ski racing, Vonn is seriously turning heads.
For example, neither Marolt or U.S. head coach Jim Tracy, who has also been in the industry
for decades, could name any other ski racer who has appeared on “The Tonight Show,” thrown
a pitch at a Major League Baseball game, walked the red carpet at the Emmy Awards and
made multiple appearances on “The Today Show” before winning an Olympic medal.
“It’s always an exciting time when we get to an Olympic season,” said Marolt. “It’s the one
time we get to showcase our sport and showcase it through our athletes. Ultimately, Lindsey
has really become the face of our alpine program without question. That positive face — attractive, successful — represents alpine skiing.”
“I don’t know if she’s the most popular ski racer ever, but she’s very popular,” Tracy said. “She
brings an element of intensity and work ethic to the sport but also … she could be a model.
People will be more in tune to do a double take and think, what is this girl doing? What does
she do? Maybe some young girl who didn’t know
about ski racing will want to look into it.”
Ultimately, this is the legacy Vonn herself wants to
leave. When asked how the sudden fame feels over
the last few months, what it’s like to constantly be in
demand, making commercials and appearances just
about every day that she’s not on the ski hill, Vonn
said that she takes every chance to show her face to
a new audience, regardless of how exhausting it may
be, because it will help grow her sport.
“It’s definitely been a little tough with all the media
stuff going on, but I’m trying to utilize all the oppor-
tunities I can and hopefully ski racing becomes more
popular in the process,” she said. “People definitely
know who I am a lot more these days than before,
but what’s really nice for me is coming to a place like
Vail and having the kids know who I am. Those are
the things that really make me happy.”
Those are also the things that make the U.S. Ski and
Snowboard Association happy. After all, attracting
young people — and their parents — is the best thing
any athlete can do for their sport.
“Where the impact happens is at that grassroots
level,” Marolt said. “At the core here is how Lindsey
has a great love and respect for the sport. She re-
spects people like Tamara [McKinney] and Picabo
[Street] who came before her and who have been the
foundation. She wants to be part of that. But with-
out parents who have an interest in skiing and ski
racing, their kids don’t go into the program. You see
someone like Lindsey, and people — parents — think
that skiing must be something we should be involved
in.”
