Florence Welch performs in New York in June 2011. Getty Images

Donna Weinbrecht, 48, won the first gold medal in mogul freestyle skiing at the 1992 Olympics. She teaches clinics at Vermont's Killington Ski Resort. She spoke with reporter Marc Myers.

Right after I won the gold medal in mogul freestyle skiing at the 1992 Olympics, I received a fax from the Ramones. I had used their "Rock 'n' Roll High School" as performance music, and their fax said, "Congratulations on winning the gold. Your fans, The Ramones—Joey, Johnny, Marky and C.J."

Donna Weinbrecht

That was so cool. I've always identified with alternative rock and still do—like Florence and the Machine's "All This and Heaven Too" [ Florence Welch and Isabella Summers ]. I first heard their song when I bought the band's album "Ceremonials" in 2011.

When I was growing up in the 1970s in New Jersey, my family had a stereo in the basement. I have an older brother and a younger sister, and whoever got down there first controlled the music. I'd sit under the speakers on our red shag rug and go into an imaginary world—listening to everything from the Carpenters and John Denver to Motown and Led Zeppelin.

In high school, I had a form of dyslexia. Classes were a struggle, and I didn't know how to ask for help. After high school I went to a local art school until low enrollment forced the college to close. Then I moved to Vermont and began freestyle training. After the Olympics, I remained in Vermont, and "All This and Heaven Too" helped me better understand my earlier difficulties. The lyrics give you a sense of what it's like to be different and the struggle to express that: "And the words are all escaping, / And coming back all damaged / And I would put them back in poetry / If I only knew how."

"All This and Heaven Too" explains what I could never describe. I love Welch's vocals. She's singing about trying to be understood. Skiing does that for me—it has a language all its own. The song is uplifting, like a huge powder day—when you get out there after a storm and every one of your turns explodes powdery snow. That's a great feeling. I cry over that song sometimes.