At Games where nothing was possible, US athletes showed obstacles can be overcome | Opinion

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BEIJING – So much of the Beijing Olympics was about what couldn’t be done.

Fans couldn’t come. Neither could family and friends. Those in the “closed loop” couldn’t interact with anyone who wasn’t. You couldn’t even share a meal with someone without a plexiglass barrier in between.

Amidst all of this, Team USA was a shining example of all that is possible when you continue to believe in what can be done.

Two years after giving birth, and two weeks after being quarantined with COVID-19, Elana Meyers Taylor won the first of her two Olympic medals in Beijing. Seemingly destined to forever be defined by the hubris of youth, Lindsey Jacobellis won her first, then second, gold medal at 36.

Brittany Bowe made room on the U.S. team for Erin Jackson, and both won medals. Nathan Chen buried the ghosts of past failures. Kaillie Humphries dared to stand up for herself and all women, then proudly stood atop the podium to represent a country that had officially become hers only two months earlier.

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Jessie Diggins won the last U.S. medal Sunday, one day after “everything was coming right out of me” because of a case of food poisoning; other Americans persevered despite being worn out or worn down.  

“We’ve had incredible performances from Team USA,” Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin said Sunday. “There’s just a lot to be proud of, results-wise, medals-wise, and there’s lessons to take away that don’t count the medals. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.”

Eight gold medals, 25 overall in Beijing

The Americans won 25 medals in Beijing, putting them behind Norway, Russia, Germany and Canada. It matches the second-most medals the USA has won at a Winter Games outside North America and ties for fourth-most overall.  

Eight of the medals were gold, one fewer than Team USA has won at each of the previous four Winter Games. Only Norway, Germany and host China won more.

“I’m incredibly proud of the team,” U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said Thursday. “We’ve seen some performances that have been unexpected and absolute breakouts.”

Mostly what we saw from Team USA reflected a spirit that so often feels lost in our country.

Much of the past two years, and really the few preceding them, has been hard. COVID-19 affects everyone’s lives, keeping us from our loved ones, forcing us to adapt at work and school and ending any semblance we had of a routine. Instead of banding together, we’ve become quick to tear one another apart.

The Beijing Olympics were a microcosm of that. Nothing about these Games was easy. Training and qualifying competitions were disrupted, forcing athletes to scramble and make do. Just getting to Beijing was an Olympic event, requiring constant coronavirus tests – 45 alone for speedskater Casey Dawson – and convoluted itineraries.

Once here, the cold at outdoor events was brutal, and the wind was often worse. Some athletes wound up in quarantine, unable to train and, in some cases, compete. The Americans in the team figure skating event don’t have their medals – or even know what color they’ll be – because Olympic officials thoroughly botched yet another Russian doping scandal.

But these Americans, who we’ve always believed represent the best of us, found ways to make do.  

“It’s less-than-ideal conditions, and you have to just kind of flip that switch in your head. ‘OK, it’s not the best. But I can do my best,’” Alex Ferreira said after he won bronze in the freeski halfpipe and fellow American David Wise took silver on a day when winds were gusting and wind chills made it feel like minus-30.

'It feels like we let our country down'

They cheered for one another – Diggins credited the presence of U.S. biathletes and other members of the ski team for getting her over the finish line in the 30-kilometer race Sunday – and picked each other up. They dug deep within themselves, physically and emotionally.

Not all of the results were what they wanted, or what people back home probably expected.

Shiffrin left without a single medal after not finishing three of her individual races. After pretty much owning the podium in men’s snowboarding for the better part of 20 years, the U.S. men didn’t win any medals. The U.S. women’s hockey team lost the gold medal to Canada.

“It feels,” U.S. forward Hilary Knight said after the loss to Canada, “like we let our country down.”

Even in their disappointment, U.S. athletes provided examples of whom we all should want to be. Shaun White recognized that his fourth-place finish in his final Olympics was a reflection of how far he’s taken his sport. Shiffrin owned her shortcomings, even if she can’t explain them. The curlers in Team Shuster showed that taking chances might not get you what you want, but playing it safe most assuredly won’t.

“It’s the Olympics. It’s this big event, it’s sport, it’s 100% focus on the competitions,” Shiffrin said. “But it’s also been three weeks of my life. And there’s never been a period of time, in (any) three weeks of my life, where I haven’t felt some sort of disappointment, regret, hope, optimism, pessimism, triumph, failure.

“That’s life,” she said. “Hopefully, people watching can take away some positive messages.”

U.S. athletes didn’t win all the medals. They didn’t even win the most medals. But on the podium and off, they brought brightness to the grim, reminding us that although it’s the medals we celebrate, it’s the hope behind them we cherish.

Follow Paste BN Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.