One of the big stories coming into the Winter Olympics was that of American skier Mikaela Shiffrin. She was expected to win multiple medals and was the favorite to win gold in more than one event.
She was supposed to be one of the stars of the Beijing Games.
Going into Thursday, Shiffrin’s Olympics could not have gone much worse.
On Wednesday, for the second time in three days, Shiffrin was eliminated from an event before getting even halfway through the course. She missed a gate in the slalom and was disqualified. Another event down the drain.
Moments after her improbable mistake, while other skiers zoomed past her, Shiffrin sat just off the course for several minutes, her arms wrapped around her knees and her head down. And we know that because NBC Sports zeroed in on her for what seemed like forever — much to angry criticism from viewers.
Many viewers took to Twitter and criticized NBC for not giving Shiffrin space to emotionally deal with her heartbreaking moment, and some even blamed NBC for Shiffrin’s failures. They said they hyped up Shiffrin to the point that they created unreasonable expectations — and then exploited her by showing her painful reaction. NBC also aired an interview where a clearly shaken Shiffin questioned how she had prepared for the past 15 years.
So was NBC’s coverage fair or over the line?
Well, first, let’s hear from Molly Solomon, executive producer of NBC’s Olympics coverage. Solomon told The Associated Press’ David Bauder, “We have an obligation in that moment, as the broadcaster of the Olympic games, to cover the moment. There’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.”
Solomon kept on going, and raised another provocative point, saying that if one of the quarterbacks in this weekend’s Super Bowl — the Rams’ Matthew Stafford or the Bengals’ Joe Burrow — sat on the sidelines, dejected after a loss, there’s no question cameras would remain on them.
“Here we are in 2022 and we have a double standard in coverage of women’s sports,” Solomon told Bauder. “Women’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.”
Let me be clear about this: NBC did nothing wrong. I’ll go a step further: NBC did its job and did it well. Anything less would’ve been irresponsible. They aren’t there to collect home-movie footage. These are the Olympics. Shiffrin is a world class athlete competing in, arguably, the most famous sporting event in the world. What she does — win, lose, jump up and down, cry, whatever — is news. NBC is there to capture that news.
You know the saying: The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. NBC is there to chronicle both and everything in between.
There are times to turn cameras away, such as a gruesome injury or an offensive outburst of profanities. But an athlete reacting to his or her victory or defeat is not one of those times.
Now there’s a backstory here. All of this comes on the heels of two high-profile athletes struggling last year with the mental health pressure of competing at the highest levels. Tennis star Naomi Osaka and gymnast Simone Biles both stepped away from their sports and talked about the pressure they felt to compete. That also plays into the criticism that NBC received over its Shiffrin coverage.
Another Olympian — American snowboarder Jamie Anderson, a two-time Olympic gold medalist — finished a disappointing ninth in the slopestyle on Wednesday, and also expressed the toll this has taken on her. In an Instagram post, she said, “I just straight up couldn’t handle the pressure. Had an emotional breakdown the night before finals and my mental health and clarity just hasn’t been on par. Looking forward to some time off and self care.”
On Thursday, a U.S. Olympic team spokesperson said Shiffrin and her mother/coach Eileen “will not be doing any media for the foreseeable future.” (However, Shiffrin finished ninth on Thursday night in the super-G, seemed in a much better place mentally and did talk to NBC afterward. She thanked those who have supported her through the first week of the Olympics.)
Choosing when and when not to give interviews is, of course, Shiffrin's right. She is not obligated to do interviews or give us answers about anything. She isn’t obligated to compete if she doesn’t want to. She owes NBC and its viewing audience absolutely nothing.
But NBC is obligated to cover the Olympics to the best of its ability — the good, the bad and the ugly.
