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SOCHI, Russia — Bode Miller won the bronze medal in the men’s super-G competition at the Winter Olympics in Sochi over the weekend, but his accomplishments weren’t all that had social media buzzing during NBC’s primetime coverage of the event.
Many felt the post-race interview that NBC reporter Christin Cooper conducted with Miller crossed the line, especially a line of persistent questioning about Miller’s brother, Chelone Miller, who passed away earlier this year. After being presented with a third question about his Chelone, also known as Chilly, Miller put his head down and sobbed.
Below is a transcript of the interview:
Cooper: Bode, you’re showing so much emotion down here. What’s going through your mind?
Miller: (Long pause) A lot, obviously. A long struggle coming in here. And, uh, just a tough year.
Cooper: I know you wanted to be here with Chilly experiencing these games, how much does it mean to you to come up with a great performance for him? And was it for him?
Miller: I mean, I don’t know if it’s really for him. But I wanted to come here and uh — I don’t know, I guess make myself proud. (Pauses, then wipes away tears.)
Cooper: When you’re looking up in the sky at the start, we see you there and it just looks like you’re talking to somebody. What’s going on there?
Miller: (Puts head down, sobs.)
Some of Cooper’s colleagues thought the interview was in particularly poor taste because the NBC veteran is also a former Olympic racer herself. Many surmised on social media that Cooper should have known better than to push a racer to confront the extreme emotions after a heated competition.
However, others, including Miller himself, rushed to Cooper’s aid, calling the interview fair and saying Cooper did a nice job of capturing the raw emotions of the Olympic Games.
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