U.S. Olympic gold medallist Hannah Kearney has won some potentially influential support in her bid to have a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor named after her — from no less than Ben and Jerry themselves.
The pair, who are in the British capital on a whirlwind business trip, said they were very proud of the freestyle skier, the first American to win gold at the Vancouver Olympics.
After outscoring home-country favorite Jenn Heil on the first night of competition, Kearney gave a shout out to Ben & Jerry's, which is based in her home state of Vermont, offering to do all the testing on a new flavor named after her.
Jerry Greenfield and co-founder Ben Cohen no longer have direct say in the running of the ice cream maker, since selling the business to Unilever NV. But, in Kearney's favor, they do still work with the company in an advisory capacity and think a celebratory flavor is a good idea.
"If I could, I would," said Greenfield when asked about Kearney's request. "We're very, very proud of Hannah."
"It's very exciting, she did a good job," he added.
And there's already a precedent. The company recently gave Olympic snowboarder — and fellow Vermont native — Hannah Teter her own flavor: Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie.
As for the flavor that Kearney, who hails from Norwich, already has in mind — coffee ice cream with Oreo cookies — Greenfield said: "That's interesting."
