Jim McKay’s famous phrase from the introduction to ABC’s Wide World of Sports, “The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat,” never applies more strongly than during the Olympic Games.
Young (and not-so-young) athletes train for years to compete at the international level, with their fate often coming down to the minutes of an event. Winning a medal brings fame and glory to Olympic athletes. But falling short of expectations can lead to humiliation and pain.
Unfortunately, one of the major stories early in the 2022 Winter Olympics has been skier Mikaela Shiffrin and her falls in two separate events that resulted in DNF (“Did Not Finish”) outcomes.
NBC cameras focused on Shiffrin sitting in the snow after she fell, lingering on her as the women’s slalom race continued. By doing so, the telecast not only stayed on Shiffrin in an emotional moment but created the impression that the race had stopped.
NBC was criticized not only for keeping its cameras on Shiffrin as she tried to process what happened, but for its interview with the clearly emotional skier trying to collect her thoughts after the event.
“Makes me second-guess like the last 15 years,” said Shiffrin, choking up and fighting back tears. “Like everything I thought about my own skiing and slalom and racing mentality. Just processing a lot for sure.”
You can watch the entire interview here. (We can’t embed it because of International Olympic Committee restrictions.)
The falls were particularly heartbreaking for Shiffrin. Not just because she didn’t fulfill expectations in Beijing, but because her father died a year ago. The 2022 Winter Games were the first in which she participated without her father.
Many viewers drew comparisons to NBC’s coverage of gymnast Simone Biles during the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, during which she withdrew from several events to address her mental health. Many felt NBC and other media put too much pressure on Biles, creating major expectations to win multiple gold medals.
Did the network do the same with Shiffrin? It’s a question that might be worth considering for the remainder of the Beijing Games and future Olympics.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
