Before Vonn's crash, Iranian coach called the skier her 'superhero' — and hoped to get her pin

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Before U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn's devastating crash on Sunday while racing on a badly injured left knee, Iran's Alpine women's skiing coach shared words of admiration for the American.

“She's my superhero,” Mitra Kalhor told The Associated Press in the Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Village on Thursday.

The Olympic Games are a place of camaraderie, where bitterness between governments like the U.S. and Iran is often of little relevance. That conviviality is likewise shown by athletes trading national team pins, a popular and beloved Olympic tradition.

“I would love to get a pin from Lindsey Vonn,” Kalhor said, noting that she met the three-time Olympic medalist previously at the world championships.

Kalhor said Sunday that her heart broke when Vonn crashed, and called her “super strong.” Vonn broke her leg, according to a statement from the hospital treating her.

Pin trading dates back to the first modern Olympic Games, revived by Pierre de Coubertin in 1896. Athletes are proudly wearing lanyards displaying pins from other teams and show them off on social media.

At the top of Cortina’s Olympia delle Tofane course, where Vonn raced in the women’s downhill on Sunday, skiers on Friday swapped pins while fog delayed their training runs.

Just as Kalhor would love a pin from Vonn, many have been coveting Kalhor’s Iran pins; she started with about 30, and by Thursday was almost out. Iranians are scarce — their team has just four athletes, only one in Cortina.

Kalhor said that she has been shocked that everyone is hunting for a pin from a nation that has never won a Winter Games medal.

“All the countries came to us — ‘It is possible to change the pins’? For me, it was really interesting because I never thought somebody would like to get it, or somebody would change the pin with my flag, but it was very nice,” she said. “The people were so excited.”

On Tuesday, American bobsledder Boone Niederhofer set out on a mission to find Iranian skier Sadaf Savehshemshaki. Niederhofer told the AP that he was specifically seeking the Iranian pin because of its rarity.

“It’s a way to interact with people who you might not otherwise,” Niederhofer said while walking through the athletes' village.

But he didn't locate Savehshemshaki. And, as of Sunday morning, he still hadn't found an Iranian to trade with.

There are other prized pins in Cortina, and the athletes' village is the hub for their exchange. China’s are admired for their beauty and variety; the team brought three designs showing a Chinese panda with the Olympic mascot Tina. A Netherlands pin featuring tiny clogs is esteemed for its uniqueness. Many athletes sought pins from countries with small delegations, like the Philippines.

Even before the Games officially began, Kailey Allan’s crossbody bag was covered in pins. She is competing for Canada in the inaugural women’s doubles luge at the Olympics, and her team pin shows a moose on a luge sled.

It’s easy to do, she said. First, she introduces herself. They talk about their sports and journeys to the Olympics, then make the trade.

Pin-swapping isn’t just for athletes and coaches, either; Olympic staff, volunteers, journalists and collectors get in on the craze, asking those they meet, “Do you have a pin for me?”

American luge athlete Sophia Kirkby posted videos on social media from a pottery studio before the Olympics, as she made hundreds of pins herself. Hers highlight women in sport with athletes in ponytails.

“Everyone wants a pin and it’s crazy how it’s a currency here,” she said during a news conference Friday. “I feel like the pin trading queen because essentially what I did was, I came to the Olympics and I brought my own currency.”

On Thursday, the AP spotted Iran's Kalhor at an outdoor coffee stand, a popular gathering spot in the athletes' village. As a former athlete turned coach, Kalhor didn't discuss politics. She spoke only about her love of Vonn and the pin trading tradition.

Walking back to her room, she was stopped by an Italian security guard who wanted a pin. It was her very last one, but she gave it to him all the same, even though he didn't have any to trade.

She said she was “super happy” that all her pins were gone so early in the Games; it showed that everyone loved them.

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Italian luge athlete Leon Felderer poses for a photo with Italy's national pin, at the Cortina Olympic Village, during the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

Patrick Shannon, a coach for the Chinese skeleton team, displays China's three pin designs at the Milan Cortina Olympic Village, during the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

Kailey Allan, who is competing for Canada in the inaugural women's doubles luge looks at her favorite pins, at the Cortina Olympic Village, during the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

United States' bobsledders Frank Del Duca, left and Boone Niederhofer speak with De Aundre John, right, a bobsledder from Trinidad and Tobago after trading their unique national team pins, at the Cortina Olympic Village, during the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

Iran's coach for Alpine women's skiing, Mitra Kalhor displays Iran's national pin for the 2026 Winter Olympics at the Cortina Olympic Village, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

Iran's coach for Alpine women's skiing, Mitra Kalhor poses for a photo at the Cortina Olympic Village, during the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo on Thursday after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer said, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain.

The arson attack in Rwampara reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare Ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region lacking in health facilities and where armed conflict has displaced many people.

The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities because the bodies of those who die from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare bodies for burial and gather for funerals.

That policy can be extremely unpopular with victims' families and friends, who aren't given the chance to bury their loved ones.

The center in Rwampara was burned by local youths who became angry while trying to retrieve the body of a friend who had apparently died of Ebola, according to a witness who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone.

“The police intervened to try to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful,” said Alexis Burata, a local student who said he was in the area. "The young people ended up setting fire to the center. That’s the situation.”

An AP journalist saw people break into the center and set fire to objects inside and also to what appeared to be the body of at least one suspected Ebola victim that was being stored there. Aid workers fled the treatment center in vehicles.

Deputy Senior Commissioner Jean Claude Mukendi, head of the public security department, Ituri Province, said it was due to youths who didn't understand the protocols required for burying suspected Ebola victims.

“His family, friends, and other young people wanted to take his body home for a funeral even though the instructions from the authorities during this Ebola virus outbreak are clear," Mukendi said. "All bodies must be buried according to the regulations."

Hama Amadou, the field Coordinator for the humanitarian organization ALIMA, which had teams working at the center, said later that calm had been restored and the aid teams were continuing their work at the center.

The flash of anger underlined the complications faced by both Congolese authorities and an array of aid agencies trying to stem an outbreak the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern.

There are 148 suspected deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases, according to the U.N., with two cases including one death in neighboring Uganda. But the head of the WHO has said the outbreak is almost certainly much larger and has also expressed concern over the speed of the spread.

The risk of the outbreak spreading globally is low, the WHO has said, but high regionally with the Ituri Province at the center of the outbreak bordering Uganda and South Sudan.

“The priority now is to act quickly and work closely with communities, as the coming days are critical,” said Ariel Kestens, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation in Congo.

Health workers and aid groups have said they are in dire need of more supplies and staff to respond. Also, there is no available vaccine or medicine for the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the outbreak.

An expert said this week it would be at least six to nine months before one would be available.

The virus spread undetected for weeks following the first known death in late April as Congolese health authorities tested for a different Ebola virus more commonly responsible for outbreaks in the country.

On Thursday, the M23 rebel group that controls parts of eastern Congo reported a confirmed case near the major city of Bukavu, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of the outbreak’s epicenter in Ituri Pronvince. The person died, M23 said in a statement.

As well as Ituri, other cases had been confirmed in North Kivu province and two in Uganda. But the announcement by M23 was the first confirmation of a case in South Kivu.

Health officials have not yet found “patient zero,” according to the WHO.

Investigations are continuing into the source of the outbreak, but “given the scale, we are thinking that it has started probably a couple of months ago,” said Anaïs Legand, a viral hemorrhagic fevers expert at the WHO.

India and ​the ⁠African Union said Thursday that the ⁠India-Africa ⁠Forum Summit, scheduled to be held next week in ‌New ​Delhi, had been postponed due to ⁠the “evolving health situation in parts of Africa.”

On Wednesday, Congo’s soccer team canceled a three-day World Cup preparation training camp and a planned farewell to fans in the capital Kinshasa because of the Ebola outbreak.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that any flights carrying American citizens or U.S. permanent residents who had visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days would be redirected to Washington Dulles International Airport from Thursday, where there would be enhanced Ebola screening.

The U.S. had already put in place restrictions banning other travelers who had been in those three countries in the previous 21 days from entering the U.S.

Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal and Imray from Cape Town, South Africa. Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Jean Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo; and Wilson McMakin in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

A health worker prepares an Ebola treatment center at the General Hospital in Bunia, Congo, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - The remains of a body lie on the ground at an Ebola treatment center after it burned down in Rwampara, Ituri province, Congo, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne)

A woman mourns her child, who died of Ebola, at the General Hospital in Bunia, Congo, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A U.S. doctor, who was in contact with people infected with Ebola in Uganda, arrives in a hospital in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

A convoy of emergency vehicles in Schönefeld, Germany, transports the family of a U.S. national who tested positive for Ebola in Congo, from the airport to where the patient is being examined in a special isolation ward of the Charite hospital in Berlin, on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (Michael Ukas/dpa via AP)

Red Cross workers carry the body of a person who died of Ebola into a coffin at a health center in Rwampara, Congo, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A woman cries as Red Cross workers carry the coffin of a person who died of Ebola from a health center in Rwampara, Congo, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)