Did NBC Olympics Reporter Go Too Far with Bode Miller Interview?

By Chris Ariens 

BodeMillerChristin Cooper, a former World Cup skier who is working for NBC Olympics covering alpine events, is getting criticism for her questions following Bode Miller’s bronze medal-winning super-G. Cooper asked three different times, in various ways about Miller’s brother who died last April of an apparent seizure. Cooper became a Twitter trending topic in the minutes after the interview aired in full during the 9:30ET half hour of NBC’s primetime coverage.

It was Miller who first mentioned his brother during a more general question about what this medal — his sixth Olympic medal — meant compared to the others. But the follow-ups all focused on his brother, Chilly:

Cooper: Bode, you’re showing so much emotion down here, what’s going through your mind?

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Miller: I mean, a lot, obviously. Just a long struggle coming in here, and just a tough year.

Cooper: I know you wanted to be here, with Chilly, really experiencing these games and how much does it mean for 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, I don’t know, I guess make myself proud.

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?

At that point Miller puts his head down, then walks away from the interview. NBC ended primetime tonight showing Miller on the medal stand, where he shared the bronze with Canadian Jan Hudec. Fellow American Andrew Weibrecht took silver in the super-G. The gold went to Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud.

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