Shiffrin

[yeahman]

What she needs to do is pick herself up and finish the next two races in whatever place, then go for a medal in the combined. I don't know if she has the mental strength to do that though. If she quits now I doubt she will ever come back from this. Some people can be immensely talented but emotionally fragile.

[From_the_NEK]

It is crazy to think this thread is already 10 years old. We've watched Mikaela go from a teenage phenom that was full of "I shouldn't be able to do this at this age" energy, to one of the most consistent and successful technical skiers that has ever lived. She has grown and matured each step of the way. But along with that success, pressure to be two people has steadily mounted. It has been a steep icy slope to both be “the GOAT” skier and the marketing face of women’s alpine skiing. Not just here in the US but globally. The world cup kind of flies under the global awareness radar (as do most winter sports). However, the Olympics bring it all that pressure and expectation to a head. I’m not going to go back through all of the posts in this thread to find it but I remember saying that I really hope she doesn’t end up getting chewed up and spit out by the sport personality marketing machine. But I think we have come to that point where she has slipped on that metaphorical icy slope and is falling into a crevasse.

IMHO, for past Olympics, Vonn took a lot of the heat and pressure off of Mikaela (Vonn certainly dealt with that pressure in her own unique ways). This Olympics, there is no one to share the burden. A combination of major life events over the last couple of years has also likely added to an already extremely high stress level that NO ONE commenting here can even begin to comprehend. So for those that are shocked or saying she is spoiled or “just get back to it”, maybe just step back a bit and try to put yourself where she is. It is probably a pretty dark place right now. Sitting on the side of the course was likely a result of everything coming crashing down in her thoughts which can be physically debilitating. There have been few people in any sport that have a burden of expectations on them as she has on her for these two weeks. A large percentage of comments on her Facebook posts are “my daughter looks up to you as her inspiration” type stuff. As such a pure personality, she has continually heavily leaned into those expectations which have made taking any failure WAY harder than we know. She has been keeping that up for 10 years and the back-to-back failures on the biggest stage have made her feel like she is letting so many people down as well as doubting her own ability.

Maybe she really does need a break from the spotlight to refocus herself. However, this late in her career may be too late to late to take a break and come back at a “podium every race” type level. Circling back to the Simone Biles comparison, maybe she decides to walk away completely before her mental state leads to a bad crash. It is completely understandable if she does. At this point she owes us nothing. She has been a great competitor to watch and cheer for. I wish the best for her whatever she decides to do.

[Jong Lafitte]

I can't pretend that isn't something that crossed her mind. I hope all around her take her mental health dead seriously right now. She did not look OK..

It’s like everything is wing attack plan R with this dude.



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[altasnob]

Why are people so fucking weird about projecting themselves onto athletes?

Professional sports is just another form of reality tv. We enjoy living vicariously through athletes.

Great post From the NEK.

Shiffrin should go talk to Kelly Slater. Slater, in my mind, is the greatest athlete the world has ever seen. And he's been able to do it from childhood phenom, to the 49 year old guy he is today who just won Pipe (the Superbowl of surfing). Slater has battled through adversity and continued to produce at a level that eclipses even people like Tom Brady. The secret, to me, is keeping the sport fun. Kelly said when he retires, he's just going to go surfing even more.

[Conundrum]

I can't pretend that isn't something that crossed her mind.

Did she sound like she was in a bad spot when you talked to her after the race?

[telefreewasatch]

It is crazy to think this thread is already 10 years old. We've watched Mikaela go from a teenage phenom that was full of "I shouldn't be able to do this at this age" energy, to one of the most consistent and successful technical skiers that has ever lived. She has grown and matured each step of the way. But along with that success, pressure to be two people has steadily mounted. It has been a steep icy slope to both be “the GOAT” skier and the marketing face of women’s alpine skiing. Not just here in the US but globally. The world cup kind of flies under the global awareness radar (as do most winter sports). However, the Olympics bring it all that pressure and expectation to a head. I’m not going to go back through all of the posts in this thread to find it but I remember saying that I really hope she doesn’t end up getting chewed up and spit out by the sport personality marketing machine. But I think we have come to that point where she has slipped on that metaphorical icy slope and is falling into a crevasse.

IMHO, for past Olympics, Vonn took a lot of the heat and pressure off of Mikaela (Vonn certainly dealt with that pressure in her own unique ways). This Olympics, there is no one to share the burden. A combination of major life events over the last couple of years has also likely added to an already extremely high stress level that NO ONE commenting here can even begin to comprehend. So for those that are shocked or saying she is spoiled or “just get back to it”, maybe just step back a bit and try to put yourself where she is. It is probably a pretty dark place right now. Sitting on the side of the course was likely a result of everything coming crashing down in her thoughts which can be physically debilitating. There have been few people in any sport that have a burden of expectations on them as she has on her for these two weeks. A large percentage of comments on her Facebook posts are “my daughter looks up to you as her inspiration” type stuff. As such a pure personality, she has continually heavily leaned into those expectations which have made taking any failure WAY harder than we know. She has been keeping that up for 10 years and the back-to-back failures on the biggest stage have made her feel like she is letting so many people down as well as doubting her own ability.

Maybe she really does need a break from the spotlight to refocus herself. However, this late in her career may be too late to late to take a break and come back at a “podium every race” type level. Circling back to the Simone Biles comparison, maybe she decides to walk away completely before her mental state leads to a bad crash. It is completely understandable if she does. At this point she owes us nothing. She has been a great competitor to watch and cheer for. I wish the best for her whatever she decides to do.

This.

[smartyiak]

Professional sports is just another form of reality tv. We enjoy living vicariously through athletes.

Great post From the NEK.

Shiffrin should go talk to Kelly Slater. Slater, in my mind, is the greatest athlete the world has ever seen. And he's been able to do it from childhood phenom, to the 49 year old guy he is today who just won Pipe (the Superbowl of surfing). Slater has battled through adversity and continued to produce at a level that eclipses even people like Tom Brady. The secret, to me, is keeping the sport fun. Kelly said when he retires, he's just going to go surfing even more.

This. Isn't she, perhaps, the best ever...and she's still young? I know everything is "what have you done for me lately?", but I hope this isn't what defines her. It's hard for me to imagine she won't come back later this year and win a BUNCH more....or take time off and come back next year and win a BUINCH more.

...and even if she doesn't...she quits and never skis again...she's still: a LEGEND.

[telefreewasatch]

I get that it was a let down, that sucks, but suck it up, get your ass off the slope and come back and win the next race. No other racer who fucked up, sat there like a spoiled child who didn’t get their way. I say this and I’m a Shiffrin fan.

Not this.
She was no more in the way of the race than the other 150 people on the hill.
Spoiled child?
Really?
Is she not allowed to get her shit together before dealing with the media / us?
Fingers crossed for her moving forward...

[oldnew_guy]

<garbage hot take >

please, just stop. JFC.

[huckbucket]

Probably safe to say that the only person putting unrealistic performance expectations on Mikaela is Mikaela. All of us here are amazed at her abilities and success.

[googledidoo]

I'm also bummed for Shiff. So many Olympic sports come down to only getting one chance in various events.

She's too good and I expect her back. I don't know about this Olympics necessarily, but she'll get back on podiums and I can't see her ending her career like this. And not because she owes her fans or her sponsors anything, but rather she will do it for herself. I can't see her ending her glorious career this way. No way.

[CnRzG]

There's something going on in her head that is messing with her focus. After watching yesterday's race and her response. She is second guessing herself. You can't second guess yourself when attacking gates.

[Ottime]

I "met" Shiffrin briefly a number of years ago. I was at Squaw with my son one spring day. I left him in a chair near the base of the finitely and went to buy our tickets. When I got back, my 8 year old was in a conversation with three women out his plans for his ski day. He was yapping and they were responding and making him laugh. As I walked over, I saw they were racers from their gear, and chawed briefly. Super nice ladies; all smiles and wishing us a fun day on the hill. Later that day, I heard Shiffrin was on the mountain training and saw her under Sibo. At home, we googled her image, and my kid said she was the really funny one he was talking with. Anyway, she was awesome to my kid that morning and just sharing the stoke. I wish her the best, what ever that may mean for her. Kind people rule.

[altasnob]

Is she not allowed to get her shit together before dealing with the media / us?

At a normal venue, with snow beyond the fences, she could have slipped through the fence and taken time to collect herself and her emotions. But in Beijing, she has to ski down the course knowing NBC is going to stick a camera in her face the moment she gets to the bottom. For other sports, they let you go back, shower, change, collect your thoughts, before the interview. For skiing, it is literally right after the moment. Imagine what Lebron James would be like if, immediately after loosing an NBA finals, they run out to him on the floor and stick a camera in his face? There is a reason the team that loses the NBA finals races into the locker room after the loss.

[SumJongGuy]

please, just stop. JFC.

OK Noted. Elephant in the room invisible from here on. I'll only post about skiing in this thread. Everyone else will too right? "distracted".

[snowaddict91]

There's something going on in her head that is messing with her focus. After watching yesterday's race and her response. She is second guessing herself. You can't second guess yourself when attacking gates.

As someone who lost my dad suddenly and unexpectedly when I was in my early 20s, I can relate to what must be going on in her head. Big life events and stressful situations always bring out the feelings in a way I sometimes still can't cope with, even almost 10 years later. I can't imagine performing at that level and dealing with those demons still so fresh.

[altasnob]

Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan come to mind as elite professional athletes who both lost their father in the prime of their career. I'd say Shiffrin is handling loosing her father better than either of them did.

[ptavv]

At a normal venue, with snow beyond the fences, she could have slipped through the fence and taken time to collect herself and her emotions. But in Beijing, she has to ski down the course knowing NBC is going to stick a camera in her face the moment she gets to the bottom.

Hadn't thought about that. Very good point.

[ill-advised strategy]

I keep coming back to this thought:
Being that consistently dominant for that long might create a vulnerability: not having any practice managing the shock and disappointment of failure.

She might be fine, and right back at it…she’s amazing. But if it’s the case that she is unequipped to handle this kind of failure, it would make sense (to me) given her unprecedented run of never getting to practice experiencing failure from being a childhood phenom straight into being the all-time best.

[John_B]

I "met" Shiffrin briefly a number of years ago. I was at Squaw with my son one spring day. I left him in a chair near the base of the finitely and went to buy our tickets. When I got back, my 8 year old was in a conversation with three women out his plans for his ski day. He was yapping and they were responding and making him laugh. As I walked over, I saw they were racers from their gear, and chawed briefly. Super nice ladies; all smiles and wishing us a fun day on the hill. Later that day, I heard Shiffrin was on the mountain training and saw her under Sibo. At home, we googled her image, and my kid said she was the really funny one he was talking with. Anyway, she was awesome to my kid that morning and just sharing the stoke. I wish her the best, what ever that may mean for her. Kind people rule.

Thanks Otto. That's a great story.

[TBS]

^^^Ottime I’ve heard many similar stories from random encounters with her. A genuinely nice person.

I'm also bummed for Shiff. So many Olympic sports come down to only getting one chance in various events.

She's too good and I expect her back. I don't know about this Olympics necessarily, but she'll get back on podiums and I can't see her ending her career like this. And not because she owes her fans or her sponsors anything, but rather she will do it for herself. I can't see her ending her glorious career this way. No way.

This. It’s just another stop on the FIS circuit. Too much importance on the Olympics

I hope she decides “fuck it I’m gonna go have fun” for the remaining events.

[Boomer28]

Fuck these olympics in in the first place. Zero natural snow, zero fans, zero fucks given by an insane, evil dictatorship that runs concentration camps out in the open. These games had an big * before they started and it's only getting worse. I feel bad for the athletes that have such a short window but on the flip side Jacobellis just became oldest gold winner in snowboarding history so there can be time...

[jackstraw]

This. It’s just another stop on the FIS circuit. Too much importance on the Olympics

I hope she decides “fuck it I’m gonna go have fun” for the remaining events.

Yeah. Olympics are way overrated from my perspective, but I'm clearly in the minority. The world cup is so much more important and she is the best of the best. I too hope she can move forward and bring back the 'fun' of why she started doing this to begin with.

[uglymoney]

^^^Ottime I’ve heard many similar stories from random encounters with her. A genuinely nice person.



This. It’s just another stop on the FIS circuit. Too much importance on the Olympics

I hope she decides “fuck it I’m gonna go have fun” for the remaining events.

When you think about who Shiffrin was, super focused on just ski racing, and that was her fun, just that singular push. It was all the reward she needed just to push hard and ski well.

Now I think ski racing occupies a different place in her broader more worldly adult mind.

I think it is hard to just say fuck it, I am going to just have fun at any level of ski racing for a kot of people. But she does need to find that balance and put it in perspective and make the risk and sacrifice worth the reward. Probably harder that we think to find that place for ski racing to occupy in her new brain, which has goals and ambitions and needs that fall outside of racing.

She needs to remember that she is more than a racer and no longer defined by individual performances. It definitely got her to where she is, but if she never wins another race she is still a living legend and more.

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[skiJ]

OK Noted. Elephant in the room invisible from here on. I'll only post about skiing in this thread. Everyone else will too right? "distracted".

dude -
you have almost no filter - I recognize that, and I respect your candor about what your Family has been through ;
I believe with your teenage daughter, You have more empathy for MS than many here...

But
If you are going to address mental health -Especially for someone else who may be in-A-crisis - PLEASE., do so Very Seriously.

Lots of people do Not deflect Stress with humor - especially Dark humor.

There are half-a-dozen Excellent posts on this page expressing Great support for MS ;
Please - quote those --


MS - do what you need to do For You ! and
come back to Ski Racing if-And-when You want to !

NEK said it best,
MS owes us nothing.

live your Life !
( With love )

with my Respect. tj


( this morning, FranzKlammer comes to mind for me -
Franz struggled. and came back to win the DH title in 1983.

forty years later, he remains one of the most beloved Downhill Racers, And he remains an ambassador. ... )

pps - I believe the reports that MS and her coach, Mike Day, sat off-course, between the fences, and did not delay the race -
And
I give MS credit for attempting the interview ( and was genuine and honest. and shattered. )

She will always have my (support).