The agony of defeat

On Monday, when Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of the giant slalom course, I was sitting in the Main Media Center in Beijing watching on television. And it was a shock.

When Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of the slalom on Wednesday morning, I was in the stands in the Yanqing Alpine Center. And it was a shock. The large group of people sitting behind me, who I gathered were not Americans, audibly gasped when she missed the mark.

And that should have been it. That should have been the end of it. She missed a gate, she's out of the race, on to the next skier. Instead, from accounts I've heard from home, NBC basically stayed on her while she sat off to the side of the course, collecting herself, obviously distraught after things just didn't go right. Now, I know that Mikaela is one of the "faces" of the Olympics for NBC, but I really have to wonder if that was necessary. Did they need to focus on her for that long? Other racers were moving through the course, they surely could've moved on.

Before the race, there was a tweet (that magically, I can't find anymore) quoting the greatest female alpine skier of all time (and arguably the greatest of all time, period) on the NBC coverage before Mikaela's run, saying this was a "must-medal" event for the American skier. 

And that is where the problems start. 

Nothing is a "must-medal" event, no matter who you are. Mikaela Shiffrin is one of the best skiers in the world, but ski racing is incredibly fickle, in that all it takes is a ski getting caught the wrong way and you're done. It happens to the best skiers in the world just as it happens to me, one of the worst skiers in the world, when I'm trying to make my way down any of the slopes of New Hampshire. 

To put that much pressure on someone is completely unnecessary. NBC has the people that they want to highlight and when those people go out early, they worry about their ratings. Think Simone Biles this summer in Tokyo. Everyone said Simone Biles did the right thing, stepping back from the competition when she wasn't feeling right. The pressure on her to be the face of the Olympics wasn't at all necessary and the same is true for Mikaela.

I don't blame Mikaela at all for sitting on the side of the course for a few minutes. She knew what was waiting for her at the bottom of the hill. The press with the questions, the television cameras rolling looking to figure out what went wrong. Truth be told, it happens and we should let it happen and not harp on it. What good does it do anyone to keep the camera on her for 20 minutes while she collects herself? Good for her for taking the time to pull herself together after what was surely a heartbreaking moment.

And, I'm willing to bet, she spent a little of that time talking with her father. The story of her and her late father is well-known, so there's no need to get into it here, but sometimes, when things aren't going right, you turn to those who you love the most, those who you respect the most and those who you care about the most, even if they aren't there with you. 

In fact, in her post-race comments, one of the things she said was "... right now, I would really like to call him." 

Maybe, just maybe, that's what Mikaela was doing on that cold and windy hillside, half a world away from the place she calls home. She was reaching out to someone who she loved. And that's OK.

Mikaela Shiffrin is not like any of us in that she is one of the best alpine skiers in the world. But Mikaela Shiffrin is just like all of us in that when things go wrong, you reach out for those you care about. 

I for one, am with you Mikaela. 

The slalom course at Yanqing Alpine Center claimed more than just one victim on Wednesday.