Concluding her challenging experience in Beijing, Mikaela Shiffrin joined Paula Moltzan, Tommy Ford and River Radamus in the mixed team parallel slalom for Team USA, ultimately losing in the bronze medal match against Norway. The U.S. finished in fourth place.
Austria won gold and Germany won silver.
“I always say that my teammates are what carried me through this Olympics. And today, I have to emphasize, I don’t think you can emphasize it enough, how unbelievable it is for us to be here and be in the hunt for a medal,” Shiffrin told NBC after their final race.
“I get that people will say we came up short,” she said. “But the thing is that, to have this depth on our team coming from the U.S. competing in a European-dominated sport, coming here and having all of us with these guys skiing so strongly. And River, we’re watching you at the bottom there. And the fact that you’re skiing so strongly and even gave us hope, that’s the biggest win you could ever give us. And it’s just been incredible to compete today with you guys after a long Olympics. This is my absolute favorite memories and I just want to thank you for that.”
In an Instagram postThursday, Shiffrin wrote, “Get up because you can, because you like what you do when it’s not infested with the people who have so much apparent hate for you. Just get up. It is not always easy, but it is also not the end of the world to fail. Fail twice. Fail 5 times. At the Olympics.”
Speakingwith PEOPLEin November about the pressures Olympic athletes face, Shiffrin opened up about dealing with the ups and downs that come with competing at such a high level.
“At the end of the day, you can drive yourself crazy looking at numbers and thinking about records and if you’re going to break it or if you’re not going to break it, and you can set yourself up to feel disappointed for the rest of your life,” she said.
To learn more about Team USA, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics, now, and the Paralympics, beginning March 4, on NBC.
source: people.com
