U.S. Olympic performances overshadowed by ugliness
TURIN, Italy – The Olympic caldron was extinguished on Sunday night. Chad Hedrick did not blow it out with all his hot air.
The controversial speed skater became America’s face of these Winter Olympics. Hedrick was successful, but didn’t quite reach expectations. He is good-looking and ugly all at once.
“My heart is bigger than everybody else’s out there,” said Hedrick, who finished with three medals, only one gold. “If another skater had felt like I did (Saturday), he wouldn’t have been on the podium. That’s just me refusing to lose.”
Hedrick made the comments after finishing second in a 10,000-meter race he was predicted to win.
That’s how it went for the United States in Turin. The team had its second-best medal haul in Winter Olympic history, but made more headlines for feuds, fights and nasty sound bytes.
High-profile skier Bode Miller seemed more intent on making last call than winning a medal. He raced five times, failing to finish three races, before telling the Associated Press: “I had an awesome Olympics.”
The Americans won 25 medals, including nine gold, and speed skater Joey Cheek embodied the Olympic spirit by donating $40,000 in bonus money to a humanitarian cause. Great stuff. Too many stories were negative ones, though, and that’s just not the media’s take.
U.S. Olympic Committee officials have vowed “significant adjustments” in the way they handle athletes at future Games. Let’s hope so.
“We’ll use a number of things that happened here to point things out to other athletes,” U.S. Olympic Committee Chief Executive Officer Jim Scherr told reporters Saturday. “Like case studies.”
There is ample material from which to choose.
“Mike Modano’s uncharacteristic trashing of USA Hockey after the Americans were eliminated from the tournament.
“Lindsey Jacobellis’ showboating tactics, which cost her a gold medal in snowboard cross.
“Johnny Weir’s decision to blame a late bus as part of the reason for his poor performance.
Nobody could top the antics and performance of Hedrick, whose Texas swagger entertained some and infuriated others. Hedrick feuded bitterly with teammate Shani Davis and clearly enjoyed the attention he received.
His bravado and contradictions – Hedrick chided Davis for not skating in the team pursuit, only to concede he too would have been more effective by skipping a race – completely overshadowed his on-ice performance.
“The athletes have to prepare themselves and compete to the best of their ability,” Scherr said. “And their behavior should bring honor to the United States.”
America had 211 athletes competing in Turin and most represented the nation with class. It only takes a half-dozen knuckleheads to undo the overwhelming goodwill, however.
Corporate America could do its part by not rewarding such churlish behavior. Here’s hoping the Nike executive who signed Miller to a seven-figure endorsement deal has been reassigned to the company’s badminton development department in Laos.
What the country really needs is more Cheek, less Chad. His story is one of the best in recent Olympic memory. Since Cheek won gold and silver and donated his earnings to Right to Play, the Canadian organization has received more than $350,000 in pledges.
Sorry, Chad, I’d say Joey’s heart is little bigger.