Ho Hum

Are you watching the Olympics? Yeah, me neither.

Well, that’s not quite correct. I have tuned in occasionally. Like last night I caught Mikaela skiing for five seconds and then sitting inconsolably on the side of the course for twenty five minutes after not finishing her slalom run on a slope made almost entirely of fake snow in a country intent on not allowing us to see anything other than what they want us to see. As sad as I feel for Mikaela’s heartache, that view of her sitting disconsolately head on knees must be sending the folks in the Chinese propaganda machine into spasms of glee. Contrast that image with the American-born Big Air skier Eileen Gu winning the Gold not for Team USA but for the People’s Republic of China. A study in contrasts and not to America’s benefit by any stretch. 

To be fair, Eileen’s motivations for representing the nation of her birth mother seem sincere and well-intentioned but still it was a tad jarring to see an American (she was born in San Francisco) lofting the Gold Medal wearing the uniform of Team China. She is still naive enough to believe that international sport can be divorced from politics but her situation drives home the opposite conclusion which is that sport at this level and in this venue is politics, at least in her circumstance. The reality is that the same Chinese propaganda machine which is tickled pink at Mikaela’s  stumbles on the snow will try to use Eileen’s triumph to their every advantage. I hazard a guess that the American part of Eileen’s persona will balk at that attempted control and I fear that her momentary glory (“they’re never going to know what it feels like to win an Olympic medal”) may be short lived as she tries to walk the tightrope of her dual allegiances.

So, did you wonder where the Sports Psychologist for the U.S. Ski team was as Mikaela spoke to the NBC commentator at the bottom of the course and questioned the last 15 years of her skiing career? Athletes egos are fragile things and when confidence is shaken its tough to get it back especially given the enormous pressure these world-class competitors are under. Mikaela doesn’t often fail which may make it more difficult for her to bounce back. Perhaps the ski racing world needs to take a lesson from the Big Air skiers. Spectacular falls are not uncommon in Big Air and the skiers are used to dusting themselves off, picking up their skis and heading back up the hill to do it all again. I know- its just that easy… and just that hard. Mikaela will rebound which is why we love her… not for never failing, nor just for winning, but for getting back into the starting gate and being brave enough to throw herself back down the hill. She may not win Gold at these Olympics, though she still has several more opportunities to do so, but that does not diminish the winner she has already proven herself to be. Eileen’s Olympic glory may be short lived but Mikaela’s time spent sitting and contemplating on the snow may ultimately reap benefits for her that will last for the next 15 years of her career. And that may be something worth watching.