Mikaela Shiffrin looked at the picture to her right, propped up as she held a press conference before her Games began. In it, Shiffrin is wearing her Olympic race uniform – the rings spread boldly across her chest. It is from 2022 in Beijing.
“Nice to see a picture where I was on my feet,” Shiffrin deadpanned to a packed room. “I think that deserves a bigger laugh.”
Beijing is Shiffrin’s albatross here, wrapped around her neck until she sheds it and replaces it with a medal.
Shiffrin is the most accomplished skier in history, with a record 108 World Cup victories, two Olympic gold medals and one Olympic silver. But in Beijing, she entered six events, failed to finish three of them and left without a single medal, and to the casual observer, at least, that is their memory of her.
Older, wiser and having examined both the technical issues that caused her failure and the emotional baggage she needed to work through, Shiffrin was thoughtful as she answered the question she knew was coming.
“I do wish that the broader audience that does tune in for the Games had a bit more of a picture and understanding of what goes on in the sport on a daily basis,” she said.
“You know – to know that I’ve raced, I don’t know how many races this season, but on the other side of things, the Olympics gives us a chance to showcase ourselves and our sport to the world, and so whether you’re watching once every four years or every single weekend of the World Cup, to have the chance to make that connection at all, I think is a gift.’’
Shiffrin will race in three events here. The first coming on Tuesday in the team combined, but she will also race the slalom and giant slalom.