Focus on Olympic medals minimizes years of accomplishments

Despite the medal-winning victories, the Winter Olympics seem to have had several disappointing performances by some athletes. So, it’s a good time to talk about losing in sports.

Mikaela Shiffrin is one of the world’s great skiers. She has won six gold medals in world championships. Shiffrin has also won more than 70 World Cup races as well as three Olympic medals (in 2014 and 2018), including two gold medals.

But the 2022 Games have been a disappointment for Shiffrin. She did not finish her runs in the slalom and giant slalom competitions, races where she was among the favorites. Shiffrin came in ninth place in the Super G race and 18th in Tuesday’s downhill event.

Shiffrin had two more chances as of our newspaper deadline – in the women’s combined (downhill and slalom) and in the team competition – but it looks like she may not win a medal in this year’s Olympics.

Shaun White, a legend in snowboarding, finished fourth in his specialty, the halfpipe, after winning gold at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. That meant he didn’t receive a medal.

I think too much importance is placed on winning at the Olympics. Aren’t the world championships in these winter sports just as important? The Olympics seem more important only because more people are watching.

Also, there are not many spots on the Olympic medal stand. Some athletes miss out because of one slip on the ice or because a judge did not score their performance quite as high as another.

Lena Dürr of Germany missed winning a medal in the women’s slalom by seven-one-hundredths-of-a-second. Tamara Tippler was closer. The Austrian skier missed a medal in the Super G by three-one-hundredths-of-a-second. That’s the blink of an eye.

Still, aren’t all these near misses – coming in fourth or fifth – in the Olympics amazing accomplishments? It’s difficult to call any of these competitors losers. This is important when we think about kids and kids sports.

Too much emphasis is placed on winning in kids sports and finding who are the “best” athletes. Maybe more attention should be placed on getting more kids to play and learn to try their hardest. And, yes, learning to accept losing and disappointment with good sportsmanship is also important.

The Olympic motto – “faster, higher, stronger” – was changed to “faster, higher, stronger – together” for last year’s Summer Games in Tokyo. I also think trying to get better and working together are important in all sports, including kids sports.

But I have always preferred the Olympic Creed. “The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well.”

All the athletes at the Winter Games – the ones on the medal stand and the ones who will never make the medal stand – have fought well.

Fred Bowen writes the sports opinion column for Kids Post. He is the author of 27 sports books for kids. His latest book is “Hardcourt: Stories From 75 Years of the National Basketball Association.”