Olympics coverage focuses on negative
By Timithie Gould
Last Saturday, United States athlete Lindsey Jacobellis won a silver medal in the first ever Olympic women's snowboard cross competition. Unfortunately, the American media seems to have forgotten her victory, highlighting only the last-minute spill that prevented her from earning the gold.
Jacobellis, 20, pulled what the press is calling a "hot-dog" move. Mid-air during the last jump of the obstacle route, she grabbed her board before coming down and then fell, botching the jump's landing.
In the seconds that followed, Switzerland's Tanja Frieden slid past, while Jacobellis regained momentum and finished second. Ignoring her second place victory, the media immediately pounced on Jacobellis' "showboat" error.
Right after she crossed the finish line, NBC interviewers on the scene plagued Jacobellis with questions like, "How does it feel to have been in first place the whole race and then have such a humiliating finish?" and "How will you handle America's disappointment in your selfishly giving up the gold?"
Not once did the reporters provide any encouragement such as, "Congratulations on being one of the best in the world," "Good job on the silver medal," or "America is proud of your second place victory in the first women's snowboard cross competition."
In fact, the next morning an editorial on the front page of the San Jose Mercury News sports section called Jacobellis an "unflattering American cover girl." The article stated that "the image from Friday's race will be added to our growing file of embarrassing American Olympic moments," citing as other examples our 400-meter relay team at Sydney and the trashing of hotel rooms by the men's hockey team at Nagano.
But it seems that all these athletes were acting in the same fashion, relaying one clear message: America is number one. And even in defeat, we as Americans have the power to do whatever we want and get away with it.
Jacobellis' behavior was the most mild of this kind, and has been met with nothing but criticism. Yet isn't that precisely the American way? Act as the supreme power, and if anyone challenges it, show them who's boss. Ironically, it seems that instead of being an "unflattering American cover girl," Jacobellis is being criticized for behaving in a supremely American way.
On Sunday, another article ran which told of support for Jacobellis' flashy moves from the rest of the snowboarding community. After all, snowboarding is all about style and flare.
"It was good that she got carried away," said American Seth Wescott, the men's snowboard cross gold medalist. "It would have been a shame if she didn't." But even with the support of other snowboarding athletes and professionals, the headline was: "Snowboard culture shares blame with Lindsey."
Why the blame? Why the negativity? Why can't we just be happy for a young first-time Olympian who boarded a great race and despite an unfortunate mistake, still medaled for her country?
If the Olympics are supposed to be about fair, honest competition and good-natured support for one's country, the media needs to realize that it should take pride in its athletes' accomplishments rather than pointing fingers at their honest mistakes.
Timithie Gould is the opinion editor for The Santa Clara.