By Lisa Richwine
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 6 – American skier siblings Birk and Svea Irving, competing in the Milano Cortina Olympics in Italy this month, said they have been receiving support from some very well-written emails and text messages.
The encouragement comes from their grandfather John Irving, acclaimed author of novels including “The World According to Garp” and “A Prayer for Owen Meany” and an Academy Award winner for the screenplay adaptation of his own book “The Cider House Rules”.
On Friday, ahead of the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Milan, Birk Irving said his grandfather had sent “a very long and well-written email” to wish him luck.
“His text messages are better than my high school and college papers,” the 26-year-old said.
The Irving siblings, from Colorado, will be competing in the halfpipe event in freestyle skiing, in which skiers navigate a U-shaped course and perform tricks in the air.
John Irving “is very supportive of us,” Svea Irving, 23, said. “He’s always texting and calling, and he watches all our events.”
The 83-year-old author expressed his pride for his grandchildren in a social media post this week.
“As you may know, I grew up in a family of skiers – in which I was always the weakest skier,” he wrote before praising his “favorite Olympians.”
“You don’t get to be Olympians overnight,” John Irving said. “I know how hard and long they’ve worked for this.”
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
