CORTINA d’AMPEZZO, Italy — I actually do work for USA TODAY and although I am not a doctor, either, I can very confidently say Greg Graber’s opinion about Lindsey Vonn is ill-informed, condescending and misogynistic.
How do I know this? Because unlike Graber, I have actual, applicable knowledge on this topic after covering skiing for more than a decade. I have watched Vonn dominate the World Cup circuit this season — how many athletes ‘past their prime’ are smoking the competition race after race? — and have heard her explain why she decided to make a comeback.
It’s not because she can’t see herself as anything besides a skier or is trying to compensate for something lacking in her life. Her foundation, commercial ventures, family and friends were more than enough to fill her time while she was retired. (Pro trip, Greg: Before making assumptions about people, maybe use the Google machine.)
Vonn came back because she could. Because she was given a second chance to end her career on her terms, something so few athletes get to do. Because she loves skiing.
And because, even at 41, she is still really freaking good.
To equate her with Mike Tyson, who is almost two decades older than Vonn and was pummeled by a YouTuber, was as ignorant as it was insulting. Contrary to what Graber wrote (again, Greg, Google can be your friend), Vonn is not skiing’s equivalent of Willie Mays.
She’s been on the podium in every downhill race so far this season, winning two of them. She also was on the podium in two of her first three super-G races and was fourth in the third.
Even with a torn ACL, Vonn had posted the third-fastest time in a training run Saturday, Feb. 7, before it was canceled due to fog and snow. A training run at the Olympics, I might add.
But even if Vonn was struggling to keep pace, so what! Did Graber run to his keyboard to psychoanalyze and chastise Phillip Rivers when he returned to the NFL this season? Is he banging the drum for LeBron James to retire?
Doubtful.
Which is the larger problem with Graber’s opinion piece, and it’s one every woman can, sadly, recognize: Without any expertise, experience or knowledge, too many men feel free to police the actions, motivations and bodies of women. They think they know best, and demand women give their opinions deference that is neither earned nor deserved.
I did reach out to Graber for comment, by the way.
Graber claims he’s a mental performance coach for elite athletes. That and regional sales managers at food companies. But does he regularly work with Olympians? Or elite Alpine skiers? No? Then maybe he should have sat this one out. Because while there are some commonalities among athletes, there also are far too many differences to make broad, sweeping generalities.
But Graber got a thought about Vonn in his head and decided one of the greatest skiers of all-time needed to hear it. She has a team of medical professionals and coaches around her whose literal job it is to provide her with honest, fact-based advice, but Graber knows better. His opinion is based on pure conjecture and projection, yet he thinks it should carry more weight than Vonn’s lived experiences and access to the best resources in sports medicine.
It’s the living embodiment of the “No, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night” commercial.
Not every single thought needs to be shared with the world. Graber has written a book entitled, in part, “Slow Your Roll.” Next time, rather than doling out unsolicited advice, he should do everyone a favor and follow his own.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
