2026 Olympics Day Twelve General Thread

[miffy]

We all know who the star of the day was. He’s world famous already!

 

[ballettmaus]

No more medal drought! FOR Mikaela Shiffrin

I have admired Shiffrin and her skiing skills ever since I first saw her during her first international competitive years, so, I'm probably a bit defensive when it comes to her. However, she didn't really have a medal drought. She didn't win an Olympic medal in Beijing, (I think that's understandable considering that she lost her father two years before and she said that a part of her was scared of that moment in the press conference after her win), still, she's had far from a medal drought.

Do I think that she wanted to medal at these Olympics? Absolutely. But I don't think she was expecting a medal in the giant slalom, nor do I think she wanted to medal because she wanted another Olympic medal. Based on what I read, I think she wanted it because of the journey she went through mentally, and what medaling would mean for that journey. (Among other things, she's said that she didn't want Beijing to be the reason she was afraid of the Olympics and she's been open about dealing with PTSD. The article is from last year, kind of long but I found it worth the read https://www.theplayerstribune.com/mikaela-shiffrin-skiing-ptsd-mental-health
For those who are interested, there's a recent one from Tara Lipinski in which she talks about the 20 minutes before she took the ice and that she panicked. It's shorter but I found it interesting, too).

Shiffrin seems to be as extraordinary a person as she is a skier!

ETA: I laughed at the pictures and videos in which the slalom medal winners are holding on to their medals while jumping, so they don't break. I guess, they all took Breezy Johnson's warning to heart (Alysa Liu doesn't seem to have gotten the message, though. Still smh (at Olympic medals that break so easily)).