Podium for men's figure skating with Japan holding gold and bronze and Spain with silver. Image here.
We’re in the home stretch of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, and one thing is certain: The United States is number one…in mediocrity.
At this writing, we are tied with France for fifth place in the medal count with 13, behind Norway (30), Germany (23), Canada (19) and The Netherlands (14). This is a far cry from the U.S.’ record-setting 37 medals in Vancouver in 2010. There are a number of contributing factors, from aging stars like Alpine skiers Lindsey Vonn and Ted Ligety to underperforming newcomers like skier Mikaela Shiffrin and figure skater Nathan Chen, from poor strategies in the women’s cross-country relay and the two-man bobsled to plain bad luck. Plus, teams and athletes go through cycles. And everything ends. As Vonn tearfully explained, she’d like to go on. Her body won’t.
And a little perspective: I’m old enough to remember the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble when America won one gold medal in the person of figure skater Peggy Fleming – and she didn’t win it in the short or long programs. She won it tracing school figures, which isn’t even part of the competition anymore.
But as I’ve said time and time again, context drives perception. For a country as rich and as powerful as the United States, with a president whose motto is “Make America Great Again,” well, there isn’t much MAGA here with Team USA. It’s not that President Donald J. Trump is personally responsible for our lackluster showing. It’s that our lackluster showing is a reflection of a country that is – to put it most charitably – in transition. (To put it less charitably, a country that has lost its identity and sense of direction.)
There are plenty of medals to be had by Americans in surfer-dude categories like half-pike and big air, but whom are we kidding? While these appeal to younger viewers, they aren’t the marquee events – alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey – that draw in the older viewers that are the hardcore network audience, which may explain why NBC’s numbers are down.
Many are wondering about the role of the media in all of this. Did the American press contribute to unrealistic expectations for Shiffrin and Chen? Probably, but this isn’t endemic to America alone. Read any country’s reports, and you’ll see the same hopes and projections. The press has its job to do, and that job here is to tell the story of the Games.
You certainly can’t blame the press for a clear reality: America is being eclipsed by other countries, particularly those of Asia.
It’s not just that we’re lackluster. It’s that others are much better, as we saw in the short program in which Russia’s Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva and Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond outclassed the United States’ Mirai Nagasu, Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell.
Let’s hope sport isn’t a harbinger of geopolitics.