Robert K. Childs 
Lindsey Vonn, the legendary alpine ski racer, had to suffer numerous attacks on social media after she did worse than expected during a race at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games on Saturday.
The Olympic gold medalist only managed to grab the sixth place in the women’s Super-G that took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The disappointed skier expressed her frustration on Twitter by saying she made a foolish mistake during the race and that cost her a chance at a better score.
Nevertheless, she also stated she was proud of the way she skied and was looking forward to her next race on Wednesday.
Comments responding to Vonn’s post could be divided into two groups — the first one were mainly nasty messages stating that the skier did not perform well enough, while others were defending her quite fiercely.
Vonn responded to the criticisms by saying she was hurt by the fact someone doubted her love for America. She also said she was proud to compete for her country and thanked the people who supported her.
The athlete’s message caused such a response mostly because in December she made a statement that her goal was to represent the whole country during the Olympic Games, not the president, Donald Trump.
Later on, she clarified her statement by explaining athletes competing in the Olympics and politics have nothing in common, and the goal of the event was not to represent a particular figure, but a whole nation.
During that time multiple athletes, including Vonn, claimed they would not visit the White House after one of the most significant sports competition ends.
Online trolls found in Vonn, a perfect target, a charismatic athlete with an anti-Trump message and they were able to force the 33-year-old Saint Paul, MN native to defend her patriotism.
It is hard to say if Russian bots are not contributing to the backlash.
Beyond disappointing that my family flew 6,000 miles to watch me ski and they aren’t even allowed to watch my downhill training runs. Access has been denied to all families and spectators. @fisalpine tried to help but access was still denied. Sad.
— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) February 19, 2018
