Propelled by a growing list of historic achievements, an unblemished image and a winsome personality, Lindsey Vonn is setting herself up to be the most visible face of the U.S. Olympic team in the buildup to the 2010 Vancouver Games.
The cover of national news magazines? Good chance. A profile on “60 Minutes”? Don’t be surprised.
She has been featured for weeks in an Alka-Seltzer Plus TV commercial, shot last summer in Chile. When she cut her thumb opening a champagne bottle Monday at a celebration for the gold medal she won in downhill at the world championships in France, longtime sponsor Red Bull flew her to Austria on a private plane for surgery by one of Europe’s foremost hand doctors.
Americans who don’t know which end of the ski goes in the front will know all about her before the 21st Winter Olympics unfold, Feb. 12-28.
The 24-year-old Ski Club Vail product seems well on her way to becoming the greatest American ski racer of all time. She competes in downhill, a daring and easily understood event with speeds exceeding 70 mph. She will win multiple medals in the Olympic alpine races at Whistler Mountain if she is anywhere near as dominant at this time next year as she has been the past 12 months.
She is photogenic, articulate, candid and a willing role model. No one on Team USA worries about her skiing “wasted,” as Bode Miller boasted before the 2006 Turin Games, or being photographed with a bong, u la Michael Phelps.
“She’s always had a really good head on her shoulders,” said former Olympic ski champion Picabo Street, Vonn’s childhood idol and current mentor. “It’s something I’ve never worried about her.”
Street admires Vonn’s humility and “sweetness.” Kevin Neuendorf has been charmed while arranging Vonn’s increasingly frequent U.S. Olympic Committee conference calls with the media as she pads her remarkable record.
“I just love this girl,” said Neuendorf, USOC manager of media services. “She’s a PR person’s dream. I think this year truly will be Lindsey Vonn’s time.”
There are no superstar American figure skaters threatening to pull the spotlight away from her — not yet, anyway — and popular snowboarder Shaun White competes in only one event. Short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno remains a star among Winter Olympians, but Vancouver will mark his third Games. Vonn has positioned herself as the Next Big Thing in Olympic winter sports.
“I think the general public has a thirst for something new, and I think Lindsey is going to quench that,” said one of Vonn’s agents, Sue Dorf of Breckenridge. “To the vast majority of Americans, she will be new. She is going to be a very intriguing story in light of her accomplishments, in light of how beautiful she is.”
Vonn also benefits from a shift in the way the sponsorship game is played. A generation ago, sponsors lined up to sign athletes after Olympic glory made them stars. Sponsors now concentrate on promoting likely stars as interest builds before the Games.
“From a television and Madison Avenue (perspective), it’s a three- or four-month window in front of the Olympics when you’re going to see those Olympic stars come out,” said Lowell Taub, who represents Miller and Julia Mancuso, the 2006 Olympic giant slalom champion. “In our country, with baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf and NASCAR, we have enough on our sports plate to not be following our Olympic heroes the other three and a half years.”
Three years ago Taub believed Mancuso’s status as a defending champion could make her a hot commodity going into Vancouver, but she has struggled as Vonn emerged as the world’s best racer. Vonn also has a nice narrative for NBC: At the Turin Games she had a frightening high-speed crash in downhill training. Battered and bruised, she still competed — in considerable pain.
And, while many athletes are skittish about discussing Olympic aspirations, lest they fuel expectations that are out of reach, Vonn doesn’t hesitate.
“I can’t help but dream about what the 2010 Games could be,” Vonn said. “I pretty much have been dreaming about that since Torino. I’ve been thinking, even since last summer, about how I can prepare for Whistler. I’m spending every ounce of energy and time that I have so that I’m as prepared as I can be for those Olympics.”
Olympic athletes often become less willing to accommodate “distractions” as the Games approach, but Vonn vows to do everything she can to promote her sport.
“I want (the media) to be part of what’s going on with my skiing, and to try to make skiing more popular,” Vonn said. “I want to try to do as much as I can because I think it is really important for skiing.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
Five Americans who will garner attention going into 2010 Games
Lindsey Vonn: On pace to become the greatest American alpine ski racer of all time. Dominating her sport at age 24 but her glittering record has one notable void — Olympic medals. She didn’t leave the Turin Games empty-handed, though, winning the IOC Olympic Spirit Award for her courageous showing, after a frightening downhill training crash that left her battered, bruised and barely able to walk.
Apolo Anton Ohno: The cool five-time Olympic short track speedskating medalist, who moved from Colorado Springs to Salt Lake City after Turin to train at the Utah Olympic Oval, won the overall at the 2008 world championships and still has star quality.
Shauna Rohbock: A former professional soccer player and a bobsled silver medalist at Turin, she won on the 2010 Olympic track last weekend and is second in the women’s bobsled World Cup standings — the only American, man or woman, to be ranked in the top three.
Jeremy Abbott: Two-time world figure-skating bronze medalist Evan Lysacek will attract attention, but the hot name now is Jeremy Abbott, the Aspen native who recently became the first U.S. man to win the ISU Grand Prix Final and set two U.S. records with his scores. Amy Sancetta, The Associated Press
Shaun White: At the Turin Games, “The Flying Tomato” went from cult following in snowboard and skateboard circles to prime-time Olympic star. Still winning, his fame continues to grow. Last month, he became the first men’s superpipe rider to defend his X Games title.
Five more Americans to watch
Jeremy Bloom: Moguls skier turned NFL aspirant turned skier, the former CU receiver will be a hot commodity if he returns to top form going into Vancouver.
Katie Uhlaender: The Breckenridge skeleton slider is a great competitor, colorful personality — and her father played major-league baseball.
Shani Davis: A controversial feud in Turin not forgotten, he’s the top American and figures to win two or three medals in long track speedskating.
Erin Hamlin: Ended Germany’s 11-year win streak in women’s luge at 99 races, becoming first non-German woman to win gold at world championships in 16 years.
Caroline Zhang: This 15-year-old — who is the 2007 world junior figure skating champion — just finished fourth at the prestigious Four Continents competition.
