NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� NBC offered a full-throated defense of how it covered skier Mikaela Shiffrin's shocking Olympics flameout, to the point of suggesting there's sexism involved in criticism that it was cruel in its portrayal of her emotional response.
NBC's cameras focused on Shiffrin for much of the time as she sat forlornly on the course, head bowed, for more than 20 minutes. The network aired a raw interview where she fought off tears and said she's second-guessing everything she's done for 15 years.
For the second straight Olympics, the emotional health of athletes performing on the biggest stage has become a focus of discussion. The experiences of gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Naomi Osaka last summer were fresh in the mind of NBC's critics, and the online blowback was fierce.
As one response on Twitter put it: 鈥淪how some empathy.鈥� NBC, said another, was 鈥渟haming鈥� Shiffrin 鈥� 鈥渢orturing鈥� her. 鈥淭he relentless hype machine," one critic wrote, 鈥渉as claimed another victim.鈥�
No 鈥� NBC was doing its job, said Molly Solomon, executive producer of NBC's Olympics coverage.
鈥淲e have an obligation in that moment, as the broadcaster of the Olympic games, to cover the moment,鈥� Solomon said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday evening. 鈥淭here's no script when there's a wipeout on the slopes or a fall in figure skating. We're watching real people with real emotions in real time and we did everything we were supposed to do.鈥�
Shiffrin's performance was huge news, she said 鈥� the biggest story of the Games so far.
鈥淚've thought a lot about this, and if Joe Burrow or Matthew Stafford sit on the sidelines 22 minutes after the Super Bowl on Sunday, you can bet the cameras are going to stay on them,鈥� Solomon said.
鈥淗ere we are in 2022 and we have a double standard in coverage of women's sports,鈥� she said. 鈥淲omen's sports should be analyzed through the same lens as the men. The most famous skier in the world did not finish her two best events. So we are going to show her sitting on the hill and analyze what went wrong. You bet we are.鈥�
As much as fans enjoy reveling in triumph, disappointment in sport 鈥� or any endeavor 鈥� is often the more compelling story. 鈥淢ore people relate to heartbreak than anything else,鈥� ESPN鈥檚 Tony Kornheiser said on 鈥淧ardon the Interruption鈥� on Wednesday.
It was evident in an interview Shiffrin gave to NBC after she spun out in her first Olympics race how much it was weighing on her. She apologized to viewers: 鈥淚'm sorry that that was the performance that I did today,鈥� she said.
Speaking with NBC's Todd Lewis following Wednesday's race, Shiffrin's eyes filled with tears.
She was second-guessing, she said, 鈥渢he last 15 years, everything that I thought I knew about my own skiing and slalom and racing methods.鈥�
At the same time, critics were second-guessing NBC's role in the pressure placed on Shiffrin, who was anointed as one of the presumed stars before the Games even started. In a segment broadcast before her second race, former ski racer and now NBC analyst Lindsey Vonn said that 鈥渢his is a must-medal situation for Mikaela. The stakes could not be higher.鈥�
After the race, Vonn tweeted that she was 鈥済utted for Mikaela Shiffrin but this does not take away from her storied career and what she can and will accomplish going forward.鈥�
Biles, the star gymnast who put the spotlight on mental health in athletics in Tokyo last year when she withdrew from several events, tweeted heart emojis directed toward Shiffrin on Wednesday.
She also retweeted a comment by writer Charlotte Clymer, who said that 鈥渟haming people just because they didn't perform well at the Olympics feels like the opposite of why we supposedly have the Olympics in the first place.鈥�
NBC pointed out that Shiffrin was a world-class athlete enriched by endorsement deals with her face emblazoned on billboards.
If NBC was playing an expectations game, it wasn't alone.
鈥淟et's all remember, Mikaela Shiffrin is a professional athlete who has won 73 times and (has) three Olympic gold medals,鈥� Solomon said. 鈥淪he one of the greatest alpine skiers of all time. She's 26 years old and incredibly accomplished. So, for all of us, of course she's going to be one of the centerpieces of the Games. I would think that she would want that.鈥�
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David Bauder, The Associated Press
