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American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, an Olympic gold medalist, said in a 2017 interview that if she were invited to President Donald Trump’s White House, she would decline the invitation. But in 2025, she was not so quick to express her refusal.
PK Press Club Digital asked Vonn if she would accept an invitation from the White House after the upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) media summit on Tuesday.
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Lindsey Vonn, right, reacts after receiving her bronze medal in the women’s downhill in Pyeongchang, South Korea, 2018. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
“First of all, I just want to say that every Olympic athlete on Team USA is normally invited… it has nothing to do with whether or not you win a medal,” Vonn said.
“I’m not going to answer that question because I’m just not going to answer it. I want to keep my passport,” she added.
Vonn stated her initial refusal to visit the White House in December 2017, just before the Pyeonchang 2018 Winter Olympics.
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This file photo shows Lindsey Vonn at a press conference regarding her future at the Sochi Olympics, World Cup season and 2015 World Championships at Gold Peak, Vail, Colorado. (AP/File)
“Absolutely not,” Vonn said when asked if she would go during the 2017 CNN interview. “No. But I have to win to be invited. No, actually, I think everyone on Team USA is invited, so no, I’m not going.”
Vonn went on to suggest that she didn’t want to represent the president.
“Well, I hope to represent the people of the United States, not the president,” Vonn said at the time. “I take the Olympics very seriously and what they mean and what they represent, what it means to march under our flag in the opening ceremony. I want to represent our country well. I don’t think there are many people in our government right now who are doing that.”
Vonn, 41, came out of a five-year retirement last year and broke the record for the oldest Alpine skiing World Cup podium.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States wins the bronze medal during the women’s downhill skiing event at the Jeongseon Alpine Center on February 21, 2018, in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Alain Grosclaude/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)
She now hopes to return to the Olympics in February.
Vonn is scheduled to race for the first time this World Cup season in St. Moritz, Switzerland, starting December 12.
