Lindsey,
You’re world champion in your chosen sport. You have youthful good looks. Visa loves you. The Donnas are singing your praises. You will have people interested in your sport for a solid week, which is more than it probably has ever received. To top it off, you cut off part of your hair to help kids with cancer. In summary, you’re Mother Theresa on a snowboard.
But beware, fame can be fleeting. For every Michelle Kwan, there’s a bunch of athletes who watched their 15 minutes of fame burn out faster than a certain torch at closing ceremonies.
To help you out, CelebrityWonk has developed this list of tips to keep your fame clock ticking for years. Keep in mind that CelebrityWonk is written by a band of complete idiots and none of them could balance on a snowboard if it was clamped to the ground. But CelebrityWonk has learned a thing or two about celebrities, so we are offering our free advice to you and any other athletes who might take the world stage in a week or two.
- Stay Sober - Remember Oksana Bayul? How about Michael Phelps? Neither do most people. Poor Phelps had the world in his hand and dropped off the radar screen faster than you can do a 540. Public intoxication is a strange thing. If you’re Paris Hilton or Nick Nolte, it’s a plus. If you’re an athlete, its a HUGE minus.
- Kiss the hand that feeds you - Mind your sponsors. Do the Disney parade, but don’t even whisper how dorky it is. In the 21st century, there are NO “off mic” moments. One slip and next thing you know, you’ll be playing a B role in “Snowboarding With the Stars” Don’t think so? Just ask Nancy.
- Mind your Body - But don’t go overboard. Everyone will remember how you looked at your peak. It’s a cruel world like that. Oksana let it get away from her for a while. That probably went hand in hand with the drinking, but the two combined left her boxed out of the B role Nancy got. And Oksana’s the one that took first place to Nancy’s second.
But keep in mind that you can over do it. Like drinking, different rules apply to athletes. The concentration camp look works (well for publicity, not health) for Nicole Ritche and Kate Moss, not you.
And you don’t want the Bruce Jenner look. Enough said. - Keep Winning - Sure that’s easy for us to say. But compare Maria Sharapova to Anna Kournikova. Once Maria won Wimbledon, Anna was left to subsist on Maxim photo shoots.
Well, that’s all for now. You must be busy and all, practicing and such. But keep those points in mind and good luck!