Yanqing, China, Feb 20 (BUS): Skiing star Michaela Shiffrin could have blamed outside pressure for her frustrations at the Beijing Winter Games, but even after she lost the podium in her sixth race, she embraced the media focus on her to celebrate. The good is in failure.
Shiffrin, a three-times World Cup champion and three-time Olympic medalist, is nowhere near an Olympic medal in Beijing despite competing in all disciplines – a rare choice in a sport dominated by specialists, Reuters reports.
The most successful alpine skier of her generation, the surprise US Games recalled the Olympic disappointments suffered by gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
But unlike the latter two who said pressure and media attention had hit them too hard and affected their ability to perform at their highest levels, Shiffrin welcomed the platform the media offered her to extract a message of hope and resilience from her failed races. .
“There’s a lot about — what is your message to the haters, what do you want to say to people who doubt you, and I don’t want to talk to them…I want to talk to people who have the potential to be nice.”
“All you need to do is get up. It’s the most important takeaway from the past two weeks for me and it has nothing to do with the Olympics. I’m just grateful that the last two weeks have given me a platform to really say he-she.”
As other athletes rush to launch after a disappointing race, Shiffrin has seized almost every opportunity to acknowledge the pain of failure, calling out bullying on social media and encouraging others who might feel defeated to keep going.
“There is a lot of talk about this kind of fight between athletes and pressure and that the media is on the pressure side of things. It doesn’t have to be a big fight because I’ve had a lot of support from you guys from the media too.”
She did not win any of her runs in Sunday’s team event, with Austria taking gold, Germany silver and Norway bronze.
“I feel you (the media) are the reason we tell our stories. It’s our duty to help you tell the stories as best you can.”
“You’re the link for us to be here and do this like a living…This is one of the most essential pieces and you’ve never lost it, no matter how pressure you feel, I’m grateful too. I think you deserve to know what I’m thinking.”