Vonn scatters grandfather’s ashes
Lindsey Vonn came to South Korea with the goal of taking home an Olympic medal and leaving behind something even more special.
She did both.
The American ski standout said Thursday she recently scattered some of the ashes of her grandfather , who served during the Korean War, on a rock near the mountain where the downhill races were run.
“I know that it would mean a lot to him to be back here, a part of him is in South Korea always,” said Vonn, who shared her story with The Associated Press and the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
Vonn said she sprayed parts of Don Kildow’s ashes “just a few days ago” on a rock that she was told was special when she visited South Korea last year to be named a Pyeongchang Olympic ambassador. She described the location as “right by the men’s downhill start.”
Vonn burst into tears when she was asked about her grandfather during a news conference in Pyeongchang this month before the Olympics. He lived in Milton, Wisconsin, and died in November.
“I miss him so much,” she said. “He’s been such a big part of my life. And I really had hoped that he would be alive to see me (at this year’s Olympics). But I know he’s watching, and I know that he’s going to help me and I’m going to win for him.”
Vonn won bronze in the downhill but missed out on a medal in Thursday’s slalom leg of the Alpine combined. Later in the day, a group of South Korean men gave her family some gifts and a letter of thanks to mark her grandfather’s service during the Korean War.
Ratings slip for NBC
Olympic fatigue may be setting in. NBC was set up for a huge night on Wednesday, with a broadcast full of exciting, medal-winning performance by Americans and an Alpine skiing competition featuring both Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin .
Yet the 16.4 million viewers who watched NBC, NBCSN and streaming services in prime time was the second lowest of the Olympics so far, and down 19 percent from the corresponding night in Sochi. For NBC alone, the drop was 30 percent. The skiing competition wasn’t decided until after 1:30 a.m. on the
U.S. East Coast, and the gripping gold-medal hockey game between the U.S. women and Canada lasted past 2 a.m. NBC estimated 3.7 million people watched the game live.
Figure skating struggles in U.S.
Where did it go wrong for the U.S. women figure skaters?
What happened to the Americans, who produced seven gold medalists between the 1952 Oslo Games and the 2006 Turin Games? Where are this generation’s Peggy Fleming, Kristi Yamaguchi and Tara Lipinski?
“It’s a good question without an easy answer,” said Tom Zakrajsek, who coaches some of the top Americans at Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Some say the decline began when Michelle Kwan, one of the sport’s most popular Olympians, began to withdraw from the competitive scene in the mid-2000s. The sport had no clear American face at a time when more extreme sports, such as snowboarding, were ballooning in popularity. Meanwhile, figure skating remained prevalent in other countries.
“It’s tough to find that talent, that wants to dedicate themselves and challenge themselves to everyone in the world,” said Fleming, who won gold at the 1968 Grenoble Games. “It’s not for everyone.”