Last December, decorated skier Lindsey Vonn directed some relatively mild criticism towards President Trump: "I hope to represent the people of the United States, not the president," she told CNN. "I take the Olympics very seriously and what they mean and what they represent, what walking under our flag means in the opening ceremony."

She said that she would "absolutely not" visit the White House, were she invited, and that she wanted to "represent our country well," as she didn’t think "that there are a lot of people currently in our government that do that.”

Yesterday, Vonn failed to make the podium in the women’s Super-G, as an astonishing upset found the Czech Republic’s 43rd-ranked Ester Ledecká, the first athlete to compete in both snowboarding and skiing, snatching the gold.

Trump supporters—the folks who pride themselves on being true American patriots—crawled out of the social media woodwork to mock one of the country's most beloved Olympians for her 6th-place finish.

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We all are all Americans. I would love to have supported you but your choice to disparage our president instead of focusing on skiing will not allow me to root for you. I am sorry as I am very patriotic. Maybe you will learn to seperate sports from politics and realize — Bill Patterson (@bpatters69) February 17, 2018

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Awwww....too bad....@lindseyvonn should have concentrated on skiing instead of hating!

Don't worry Lindsey, @realDonaldTrump won't want to invite you now.

He only likes winners! pic.twitter.com/3PLoxM1Ov0 — 🙏🇺🇸JB Hafidha🇺🇸 🙏🤲Pray 4 Pres.Trump🤲🙏 (@jobeeswing) February 17, 2018

Former soccer player and ESPN commentator Julie Foudy took note of the abuse:

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I just spent last 20 min's reading thru tweets directed at @lindseyvonn. Sickened & disgusted once again by the lack of humanity that engulfs our country. She just raced her damn heart out & Trump supporters gloat/cheer/celebrate her inability to medal. Is this what we've become? — Julie Foudy (@JulieFoudy) February 17, 2018

To which Vonn sent a gracious reply:



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It’s ok Julie. 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. If they don’t like me 🤷🏼‍♀️ their loss I guess... Thank you for the support🙏🏻❤️ https://t.co/EaySJE7QAe — lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) February 17, 2018

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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