I will fully admit right off that bat that I have not watched a ton of coverage of the Olympics. Snowboarding and Hockey are my favorite sports of the Winter Olympics, and then I look to social media for those stand out moments. I can not wait to watch Shaun White tonight try for his last Gold medal. He’s retiring professionally after this. I absolutely love him. I was watching last night when Chloe Kim won her second Gold medal in a row in Snowboarding. Not only was that exciting to watch, but as cameras showed her after her fantastic first run where she scored the 94 that ended up nabbing her the Gold, she was talking to her coaches absolutely in tears talking to them about feeling the pressure to win. To be CHLOE KIM. I was glad that the commentators followed up on that. That people forget that these athletes are people. Some of them high school or college students. People with other things going on. All trying to live their lives and all under immense pressure to perform. It’s something you definitely saw last summer when Simone Biles faced criticism for putting her mental health first. So that was the long-winded way to say I was happy to hear the commentators point out (again) that while these athletes are on the public stage, they’re human too.
My next favorite part of the the Olympics actually happened on social media. Mikaela Shiffrin is a U.S. Alpine Skier whose slalom, well, it was bad. And, as it does on the public stage, her devastation is playing out on tv and in photos. Her significant other is also at the Olympics. Aleksander Kilde is a Norwegian Alpine skier, and he posted THE SWEETEST message for her.
My hope for every human is that they
find another human who finds a way to
love, understand, and heal them in the way @AleksanderKilde has done and
continues to for me ❤️ https://t.co/sDrTptur4R— Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) February 9, 2022
Now, I just need Shaun White to win Gold in Snowboard and the U.S. Hockey team to take Gold.