Team USA's Dreams of a Record Olympics Are Suddenly Falling Apart

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Team USA’s Dreams of a Record Olympics Are Suddenly Falling Apart

As household names underperform all over Italy, the first week of the Games has yielded only four golds for the Americans. Can their Olympics be salvaged?

https://www.wsj.com/sports/olympics/team-usa-olympics-ilia-malinin-ce6709dc

They came to Italy for a gold rush. 
From the downhill course of Cortina to the cross-country tracks of Val di Fiemme and a figure skating rink on the edge of Milan, members of Team USA envisioned themselves spending the entire Olympics on the top steps of podiums. And with the biggest delegation here, they dreamed of a run that would surpass their record 10 gold medals the last time they hosted the Winter Games. 

Then came the disastri. 

One by one, America’s made-for-TV stars fell short of expectations. Lindsey Vonn crashed. Chloe Kim fell. Mikaela Shiffrin struggled. The most shocking fumble of all came on Friday night when figure skater Ilia Malinin, the self-proclaimed “quad god,” melted down in the brutal heat of the Olympic spotlight.

It was merely the latest disappointment of an Olympics souring faster than burrata in the sun for Team USA, which is suddenly on track for its fewest winter golds since 1998. 

A full week since the Opening Ceremony, the U.S. was stuck on four, the same number as Sweden and Switzerland. The Americans are looking up in the medal standings at host nation Italy, which is on pace for its best-ever Olympics, and they have been lapped by the Norwegian gods of the Winter Games.

[Wednesdays]

1. So then, a typical Winter Olympics.

USA has never won the most gold medals except in 1932, and Norway is nearly always dominant.

[NoRethugFriends]

2. the emphasis on how many medals a country wins is nauseating

[bdamomma]

10. I know

just being in the Olympics is/was a privilege. I should not equate politics with sports.

[NewHendoLib]

3. Hubris. Pride goes before a fall.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

4. In 1968, Peggy Fleming

won the only gold medal for the U.S. at the Olympics in Grenoble. That was almost at the end of the games. It's not over until it's over. As of right now the U.S. has won 5 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze medals.

[Srkdqltr]

5. All Trumps fault.

[Captain Zero]

12. Yes. Trump has JINXED THEM.

Damn him.

[MineralMan]

6. Sports competitions are won and lost.

[msongs]

7. household names lol. well in their households maybe. nt

[obamanut2012]

13. They are household names in rheir sports

[struggle4progress]

8. How way-wee way-wee twad-jick!

[tanyev]

9. When did the silver and bronze medals lose their value?

I feel like a scenario I've seen many times in recent Olympics is the happy gold medal winner and the silver and bronze medalists struggling to keep the disappointment off their faces.

Is it because so much media coverage frames it as "So and so had to settle for the silver" or "So and so, rejected in their quest for the gold", etc.? Maybe it's because all the monetization opportunities go to the first-place finisher?

I don't know, but I absolutely love it when someone who wasn't expected to medal wins the bronze and they are THRILLED! Shun Sato was very emotional about winning the bronze in men's figure skating.

I mean, winning a silver medal or a bronze medal at the Olympics is amazing. Just making the Olympic team is amazing!

[bdamomma]

14. This comment

is how I see it too.

I mean, winning a silver medal or a bronze medal at the Olympics is amazing. Just making the Olympic team is amazing!

[obamanut2012]

11. When are silver and bronze mradals failures?!

[durablend]

17. Since you-know-who descended the escalator

No doubt going to screech how "wOkE" caused them to be losers.

[tavernier]

15. Latvia threw a huge party

for their silver medal luge winners! For years, every time the athletes parade came to Latvia, the network would go to commercial. These little countries with not such big purses are almost always zoomed over quickly. That or mispronounced.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

16. Look to the positive side...Russia is NOT participating in this Winter Olympics.

Since when did the US ever DOMINATE a Winter Olympics?

The grit, hard work it took to make the team, makes for an Olympian! Not the number of medals they win in a given sport. Does the United States as a whole need to do better? Of course. I cannot imagine the pressure one feels before a race, skate, etc.

They are all winners.