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Lindsey Vonn joins NBC's Beijing Olympics coverage team

NBC has hired a familiar face for a featured role in its Olympics coverage.

Lindsey Vonn is joining the network for the upcoming Winter Games in Beijing. The three-time Olympic medalist who competed in four Olympic Games will work as a prime-time correspondent. NBC announced the news Wednesday.

Vonn competed as an Alpine skier in the Salt Lake City (2002), Turin (2006), Vancouver (2010) and PyeongChang (2018) Games. She won gold in downhill and bronze in super-G in Vancouver, and bronze in downhill in PyeongChang. Her 82 World Cup gold medals are the most all time in women's competition.

Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. celebrates. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Lindsey Vonn is staying in the Olympics mix. (Reuters/Christian Hartmann) (Christian Hartmann / reuters)

Von retired from competitive skiing in 2019. She has since called World Cup events for NBC.

“I’m excited to kind of give a different perspective,” Vonn told NBC Sports. “I think Michael Phelps was such a good addition to the Summer Games, and I hope that I can bring the same perspective to the Winter Games. I’m definitely still going to be jealous of the competitors, but I’m excited.”

NBC announced Vonn's hiring shortly before news broke that the network was pulling its announcing teams for figure skating, Alpine skiing and snowboarding from Beijing due to COVID-19 concerns. They'll instead call the events remotely from NBC's Stamford, Connecticut facility.

Network spokesman Greg Hughes told USA Today that NBC would maintain "a large presence on the ground in Beijing," including prime-time host Mike Tirico before he returns to the United States mid-Games to host the network's Super Bowl coverage.

Vonn's correspondent title indicates she'll be in Beijing, and the network didn't specify otherwise. The Olympics start Feb. 4.