Professional golfer Tiger Woods, 37, and Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, 28, announced in March 2013 that they are dating. The couple made this news public by posting separate statements online: Woods on his website and Vonn on her Facebook page.
In her statement, Vonn acknowledged that rumors of their partnership have been circulating for some time. She also explained that the two started out as friends, but that their relationship had become more serious during the prior few months. Woods echoed this depiction of their relationship in his own statement. And both Vonn and Woods emphasized that they intend to keep private further details of their love affair.
The Woods-Vonn rumors grew rampant in February 2013, when Vonn returned to her Colorado home aboard Woods’s private jet. Vonn made this trip after sustaining injuries from a highly-publicized crash at Austria’s Alpine World Championships. Since then, the two have also been spotted relaxing together on Woods’s yacht.
At least one of Woods’s close associates has suggested to media outlets that what has drawn the couple towards one another is how much they have in common. Indeed, the similarities between their backgrounds are striking.
1. Both compete in individual, as opposed to team, sports. In downhill skiing and in golf, the athlete faces extreme pressure to perform; the scrutiny is intense. In skiing as in golf, the tiniest of missteps can result in a loss.
2. Furthermore, Vonn and Woods began their athletic training as children. Both know what it is like to sacrifice many of the typical experiences of American teenage life in order to have the time for grueling workout regimens and training sessions.
3. Woods and Vonn have also been extremely successful in their respective sports – they are, in fact, among the most decorated individuals in the history of those two sports. No doubt they can understand and relate to one other’s drive to win and focus on excellence.
4. In addition, Woods and Vonn are physically attractive individuals with magnetic personalities, and both have landed an array of lucrative endorsement deals.
5. Finally, Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn both know what the agony of a celebrity divorce is like. In late 2010, Woods was caught in a media firestorm when information about his numerous extramarital affairs leaked out. His marriage to Swedish model Elie Nordegren ended soon afterwards. And Vonn separated from skier Thomas Vonn in November 2011 after a four-year marriage.
