Bode Miller Interview Crying, Wins Bronze Medal Alpine Skiing Men's Super G (Review) 2014 Olympics Bode Miller won a bronze medal in alpine skiing men's super G and cried while getting interviewed at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The interviewer kept asking questions about Bode Miller's brother, who died last year of an apparent seizure, which made Miller break down. Bode Miller is now the oldest medal winner in the sport's history, and this is also the 6th time in Olympic history where two people tied for a medal. Bode Miller Interview Bode Miller Interview Bode Miller Interview Bode Miller Crying Bode Miller Crying Bode Miller Crying Bode Miller 2014 Olympics Bronze Medal Alpine Skiing Mens Super G NBC Interview Bode Miller Crying Emotional Breakdown Dead Brother at 2014 Sochi Winter REVIEW Bode Miller Interview Crying, Wins Bronze Medal Alpine Skiing Men's Super G (Review) 2014 Olympics Bode Miller had just tied for a bronze medal in the men's super-G at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, on Sunday and it was time to be interviewed. NBC had already established Miller's quest as an emotional story line, putting a microphone on his wife, Morgan, to hear her reactions to his races, and having the couple sit for an interview with Tom Brokaw. He was being humanized — as the changed man, the family man, the mature 36-year-old whose brother had died last year. It was not out of bounds for NBC's Christin Cooper to ask a medal winner questions about his brother's death. (Miller's brother, Chelone, was a snowboarder who died last year at 29.) It was a relevant area to pursue, part of his Olympic biography. And Miller brought it up in response to her first question, saying that he had "a lot of emotion riding" on the race. Bode Miller, who didn't think his time would be good enough for a medal, was emotional with his wife, Morgan Beck, after winning a bronze. Cooper picked up on that quickly and asked, "Bode, you're showing so much emotion down here, what's going through your mind?" That probably should have been the last question about his brother. This was, after all, an interview with a great skier who had just won a bronze medal, the sixth Olympic medal of his career. He had done no wrong to be milked for more emotion than he wanted to reveal. Cooper needed to strike a far better balance in her questions so that the takeaway for viewers would not be that she was badgering him. Maybe the absence of detail in his answer — he said only that it had been "a long struggle coming in here. And, uh, just a tough year" — compelled her to go forward. "I know you wanted to be here with Chelly experiencing these games; how much does it mean to you to come up with a great performance for him? And was it for him?" she said. Now she was sounding intrusive, and maybe doubting his fraternal inspiration. It was one question too many, at least the way it was phrased. But it pushed Miller into a thoughtful answer — that he did not know if he had won a medal for his brother or to "make myself proud." He was holding up, but tears had started to trickle down Miller's face. He was being a stand-up guy, even if he was being pulled through a wringer. Now was truly the time to stop. If you've made a medal winner cry, it is time to simply say "thank you" and move on. It was on tape, so NBC could have cut it off and gone to Matt Lauer in the studio. Instead, Cooper forged on, wondering whom he seemed to be talking to when he looked up in the sky before he started his run down the mountain. It was not a bad question, but by this point, it was overkill. "What's going on there?" she said. Miller's helmeted head was bowed and he was unable to answer. The clock kept ticking, and I expected NBC to turn its camera elsewhere or for Cooper to say, "Thanks, Bode, you had a great race." That did not happen. And there was no interview with the gold medalist, Kjetil Jansrud, to plug in and change the tempo. Bode Miller Interview Crying, Wins Bronze Medal Alpine Skiing Men's Super G (Review) 2014 Olympics

• published: 17 Feb 2014
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