In addition, social media adds a great deal of pressure to these American athletes in the way that the British tabloid media used to seem to affect their best athletes so that they wouldn't perform up to their capabilities, although that seems to have totally changed.
Richardson lost a parent right before the OT, yet her chosen coping mechanism wasn't good enough for the mainstream that was already judging her for not conforming to "American values." Richardson chose to deal with losing a parent no more than Shiffrin did. Yet here we are.
You really are emphasizing the parent aspect. TBF, she was adopted and never met the parent, so I wouldn't say she "lost" her. I can understand why it might still be jarring, but you're being a bit of a try-hard by repeating that so much.
This is a great summary of what the media does to athletes. They find one and put them on a pedestal like they are the ONLY one in the competition. This is because they assume the general public is stupid and cannot remember more than one name.
It's funny to see near universal support for Shiffrin on here after near universal criticism of Biles and Richardson last summer. My, my, my!
Biles quit, Richardson was banned. So Shiffrin continuing to compete while struggling and giving interviews is nothing like the other two. It's actually the exact opposite of a Biles. Get with the times.
the answer is pretty simple . Very technical sport , every venue is very different . This one does not suit her . Very steep at the top and medium speeds near the bottom. Very similar to the Nakiska ski hill in Alberta (1988 olympics ). In order to take advantage , she and many other lighter weight skiers have to take big risks at the top because they don’t have the advantage of heavy body keeping momentum at the bottom of the hill. Lots of upsets all week at this China Hill. I’m in BC and ski 50 time a year at Whistler . She is one athlete in this sport where she is admired by every ski country . You don’t get this in pro sports .
1. She is not having a bad 21/22 season, as she is overall leader in world cup points. (like winning overall diamond league) 1 month of season to go after Olympics.
2. She was 5th overall in combined after the downhill, and probably pressed a bit in slalom to move up for medal, preferably gold. Ironically in hindsight, she could have skiied conservatively and won gold as the gold medal ended up going to the 13th place downhiller.
3. It's not unusual particularly in slalom to crash out, it's like smacking a hurdle. The more aggressive you ski, more chance to miss a gate. Legends of skiing, Tomba, Bode Miller and downhiller Franz Klammer, all candidates to be "the Pre" of skiing crashed out way more often than Shiffrin. They either won or crashed, always maximum performance and never "compromising the gift." Shiffrin is usually more of a tactician like Bekele or El Guerouj, as she is such a talent, that she does not need A game to win. For sure not the case this week with 3 crashes (of 19 lifetime), ie. at previous Olympics and world champs she has been reliable..
4. Even if she never does another Olympics (unlikely), she would only need to ski 1-2 more seasons to become the best all time skiier, male or female. She has already done enough in previous Olympics and world champs plus annual world cups to be the goat. Also of note, there is good money in alpine skiing, with plenty of tv and advertising money in Europe, so she is making 7-8 figures annually just with the regular world cup program. She is also well liked among competitors, and although she can be humorously neurotic, is accessible and professional with the media.
5. Lastly, she never ducked the media or blamed anything for her performance this week. Actually said she liked the snow and course. Hopefully, she puts this behind her, and goes on to win this year's world cup.
From what I can tell this is very rare for her. 16 times in a decade.
I applaud her for just talking to the media (at least NBC after). I heard she wasn't going to talk to media but she's giving lengthy talks to NBC and you can hear the doubts in her head.
She even spoke after the downhill before the slalom in the combined (they are the same day so I guess this would be like talking to the media after a 100 meter semi). She was pleased with her downhill run and ready for the slalom but was very honest saying something along the lines of "I still have thoughts of missing the 5th gate in my head"
Is there something like how gymnasts (Simone Biles) get the twisties for skiers, asking honestly on this one.
This is like asking why doesn’t Tiger Woods dominate his entire life. We are talking about the second most decorated alpine skier of all time. 6 world championship golds, 2 Olympic golds and a silver. 73 World Cup wins.
Even the best in the world go through bad patches. This just happens to be front and center because NBC decided she needed to be the face of the Olympics this year.
The four-time Olympic medallist wouldn't be surprised to see Shiffrin overtake her already in Beijing as most decorated female U.S. alpine skier at the Winter Games.
the answer is pretty simple . Very technical sport , every venue is very different . This one does not suit her . Very steep at the top and medium speeds near the bottom. Very similar to the Nakiska ski hill in Alberta (1988 olympics ). In order to take advantage , she and many other lighter weight skiers have to take big risks at the top because they don’t have the advantage of heavy body keeping momentum at the bottom of the hill. Lots of upsets all week at this China Hill. I’m in BC and ski 50 time a year at Whistler . She is one athlete in this sport where she is admired by every ski country . You don’t get this in pro sports .
A kind post, very rare on LRC.
Super-G hasn't been around awhile, I think '88 Calgary was the first year too!
Twisties, yips, dropsies, in the dumps ... they are all similar: people thinking about what they are doing instead of doing what they are doing. I keep thinking that a team of a physical therapist and a sports psychologist could come up with some techniques to guide a person out of their funk.
I'm not sure Shiffrin fits in this category, she might just be unlucky this year or is heavy hearted for her personal reasons.
I'm curious. Given what we have seen from Biles last summer and now Shiffrin, do we revisit Suzy's epic fails with more empathy or sympathy? I am inclined to do so.
Bad, they'll still interview the heck out of her tonight, and I'll continue wondering if she's got a developmental disability or something. She talks like a four-year-old autistic kid. And we'll get another load of B-roll of her not crashing or missing gates, which they had ready for the five-medal threat. No Hassan, this one.
After crashing out in her second straight slalom run at the 2022 Winter Olympics -- this time to take her out of medal contention in the women's combined -- ...
She seems to talk fine to me and is very transparent. She was analytical and went through the process about what happened. I have a lot of respect for her at least trying to do the other events after her first DNF.
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