Austrians brushed off

Something sensational happened at the Olympics: Austrian skiers won all three medals in the men’s slalom!

Eager to learn more about it, I searched the headlines of The Spokesman-Review and its entire sports section. After sifting through pages of detailed coverage of Ohno, Miller, and various other American athletes, I finally found a very short, obscure blurb mentioning the Austrian triumph in passing.

Shouldn’t athletic excellence and human achievement be acknowledged regardless of nationality? This strikes me as a prime example of America’s self-absorbed, insular attitude that leaves us blissfully ignorant of – and isolated from – the rest of the world.

Elisabeth Brackney

Moscow