American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn sent a message to the internet trolls who bombarded her with abuse after she missed out on a Winter Olympics medal on Saturday.
Trolls, including some of President Donald Trump’s supporters, tweeted hateful messages at the 33-year-old four-time Olympian after she placed sixth in the women’s super-G event. Their comments were in apparent retaliation for Vonn’s criticism of Trump last month.
Julie Foudy, the former U.S. women’s national soccer team captain, spotted the offensive tweets and shared this message of support for Vonn:
Vonn replied that “not everyone has to like me but my family loves me and I sleep well at night.”
“I work hard and try to be the best person I can be,” Vonn added. “If they don’t like me, their loss I guess.”
Vonn won two medals, a gold and a bronze, at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. A knee injury prevented her from competing at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Her measured response to the critics earned plenty of praise:
Vonn said it was “frustrating” to lose out in the super-G event, but she was “proud of the way” she “attacked the course.” Czech athlete Ester Ledecka won a surprise gold.
Vonn still has another shot at glory in the downhill and alpine combined events.