Team USA athlete Lindsey Vonn has made headlines at the 2026 Winter Olympics for all the wrong reasons, as the 41-year-old suffered a horror crash and has been left with huge concerns over her long-term fitness. However, it’s not her first time in the limelight.
Heading into this year’s Games in Milan, Vonn refused to answer whether she would visit the White House. The alpine ski racer, who was airlifted to hospital after her nightmare crash, was asked whether she would go to the presidential building in Washington, D.C. if she won a medal this year. She replied (per Fox News):
“First of all, I just want to say that every Olympic athlete from Team USA is normally invited… it has nothing to do with if you win a medal or not.
“I’m not going to answer that question because, I’m just not going to answer it. I want to keep my passport.”
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Lindsey Vonn Turned Down White House Visit in 2017
If past form is anything to go by, it would have been a huge shock to see the Minnesota-born star visit Donald Trump’s White House. In December 2017, Vonn confirmed she wouldn’t make the trip, regardless of her performance at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics:
“Absolutely not. No. But I have to win to be invited. No, actually, I think every U.S. team member is invited, so no, I won’t go.”
Going into more detail, Vonn went on to describe the honour of representing her country. However, that didn’t quite extend to President at the time, Donald Trump. She said: “Well, I hope to represent the people of the United States, not the president.
“I take the Olympics very seriously and what they mean and what they represent, what walking under our flag means in the opening ceremony. I want to represent our country well. I don’t think that there are a lot of people currently in our government that do that.”
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Trump was in his first term as POTUS, but is now back in office. The 79-year-old has been involved in many controversies over the years, prompting people from all walks of life to criticise his actions. That includes Team USA athletes at the Winter Olympics.
Having returned from a five-year retirement in 2024, Vonn would again be in the position of deciding whether to visit the White House with the rest of her American colleagues. However, it appears her serious injury has taken that possibility out of the equation anyway.
Shortly after revealing she wouldn’t make the visit in 2017, Vonn addressed the situation in an Instagram post after receiving a ‘tremendous amount of feedback, both positive and negative’.
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“The point that I was trying to articulate is that all Olympic athletes represent their nation as a whole, and are not representatives of their government or any specific political figure or party,” Vonn clarified per ESPN.
The Team USA star then went on to reveal she had received some horrible hate comments for being ‘anti-Trump’. Vonn continued:
“It is hurtful to read comments where people are hoping I break my neck or that God is punishing me for being ‘anti-Trump.’ We need to find a way to put aside our differences and find common ground in communicating. Is it wrong to hope for a better world?”
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