In Reply to: Why the US is falling behind in Winter Olympics posted by blindness on February 13, 2026 at 10:52:48
It was so unique, she parlayed that into a longgggggg spokesperson and announcing career. She's now, like, a 100 millionaire.
In 1976, Bill Koch won the first medal for men in cross country skiing. It was so unique that when we watched an XC race last night and they mention the only medal the US had won in men's XC skiing, before they said the name, I said to my wife "Bill Koch! Bill Koch!"
No one in the US cared about Olympic hockey until the Miracle on Ice.
There's a male skier whose mom won a medal in skiing in 1984, when an American medaling in skiing was absolutely anomolous.
Was watching speed skating, they showed Bonnie Blair in the stands. If she were from any country that was good at the Winter Olympics she'd be a legend in that country. I bet maybe 2% of Americans know who she is.
I was watching a pre-Olympics promo for our biathlon team, it said that biathlon is the second most popular sport in Europe. I find that hard to believe. But, it must be pretty popular for them to say that.
I grew up when the US was not good at many sports in the winter games and we didn't win many medals. To me, it seems like we're getting better each year, but with the advent of streaming, I don't watch the studio stuff where they talk about medal count.
I haven't watched as much as I'd have liked. but I've seen a man win silver in xc skiing, I've heard that Jesse Diggins medaled in XC skiing, I've seen Breezy win the downhill, and another US pair win that downhill/slalom team thing.
I've seen some speedskater gal who is supposed to be one of the best in the world crash for no reason. I guess she's crashed three times already? (shades of Dan Janssen). The two best women's skiers in history have, from what I understand, done horribly. Vonn obviously. And, Schifrin is not doing well?
When I became an adult, if you'd told me the US would have the two most dominant female skiers, by far, in history, I'd have said you're nuts.
Seems like we've had a lot of bad timing for bad races.
My biggest, by far, complaint about the Olympics is NBC's editorial decisions p*ss me off. Breezy won gold in downhill. I saw barely any coverage of it, b/c Vonn. Two other women whose names I don't even know medaled in that downhill/slalom thing. I saw no coverage of them, b/c Schifrin didn't medal.
We're a bazillion trillion times better than we were when I grew up. Have we fallen off? I guess. But, I've watched us medal in curling. Watched the women kick Canada's butt in Hockey (they didn't have their best player - maybe the best in history). Watched the events I mentioned above. We're kicking @zz by the standards I grew up with.
If the guy said that youth sports have become too much of a business. OK. But, Austria has ski schools. Schools, where part of the curriculum is high level ski racing. The US has one, apparently, in Park City and it has produced, according to a segment), a large part of our ski/snowboard athletes.
There is too much to get worked up about these days besides where the US is in the medal standings in the winter Olympics. I'm just trying to enjoy the victories.
As always, Peace.
And, if you haven't, watch a mass start biathlon competition. It's reallly fun. And, we pretty much suck at it. But, it's a great sport to watch on tv. The individual start ones, not so much. But, the mass start ones are awesome.