Livigno, Italy –
For the world’s elite athletes, failing to grasp an Olympic medal hurts — and especially so for the person who finishes fourth, among the very best in the world but just one step short of the podium.
Years of grueling physical work and mental preparation can end with missing out on the medal places and the global recognition that they bring. At the Milano Cortina Games, German snowboarder Annika Morgan stood in the bronze medal position with one rider to go. That rider was New Zealand powerhouse Zoi Sadowski Synnott, who put down a stellar slopestyle run that bounced Morgan into fourth.
“It sucks a lot,” Morgan said as she stood on the slopes in the Alpine town of Livigno. “That’s all I can say. Someone has to be fourth. And it’s me.”