- Mikaela Shiffrin came into the Olympics with a shot to win five medals.
- The chances of a historic Olympics came to an end when Shiffrin finished fourth in her best event, the slalom, and withdrew from the Super-G.
- Shiffrin explained on social media that she wouldn’t change a thing, saying she is just grateful to be a part of the Olympics and noting that there are things about competing that are more important than winning medals.
Mikaela Shiffrin has already won one gold medal at the Winter Olympics and has a chance to add two more medals, but to many observers her performance so far has been disappointing.
Shiffrin failed to medal in the slalom — her best event — and was forced to withdraw from the Super-G. With just the downhill event on Wednesday and the alpine combined event on Friday to come, the anticipation of a potentially historic Olympics had worn off.
To Shiffrin, that doesn’t matter.
The three-time World Champion posted a photo of herself to Instagram from when she collapsed after winning gold in the giant slalom. The caption included a great lesson on embracing failure in the Olympics.
The caption reads:
“I’ve gone over it a thousand times in my head, and I don’t think I could have done it differently even if I got a second chance. I keep thinking that maybe if I was able to control my emotions more after the Giant Slalom, I would have had more energy for the Slalom and maybe I could have put more into that race, maybe I would have had better control of my nerves, maybe… But after 5 days of schedule changes and waiting to race, and without the day between those races to reset and recharge, I wasn’t able to manage it. And you know what? I wouldn’t change that for the world. It’s the Olympics, and for me that’s about showing heart and passion as much as it is about medals. So I wouldn’t take back my emotions or excitement after the GS in order to have better shot at a SL medal too. You know, it’s not necessarily the medalists who get the most out of the Olympics. It’s those who are willing to strip down to nothing and bear their soul for their love of the game. That is so much greater than Gold, Silver, or Bronze. We all want a medal, but not everyone will get one. Some are going to leave here feeling like heroes, some will leave heartbroken, and some will have had moments when the felt both- because we care. That is real. That is life. It’s amazing and terrifying and wonderful and brutal and exciting and nerve racking and beautiful. And honestly, I’m just so grateful to be part of that. 💛”
Shiffrin came into the Olympics with a shot to medal in five different events. No Alpine skier had ever won more than three gold medals in a single Olympics or more than four in a career.
Breaking those records is no longer possible, but that’s OK. Shiffrin wouldn’t change a thing.
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