‘The Girl Who Failed Could Also Fly’: Mikaela Shiffrin Pens Down an Emotional Message On Her Struggles at Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

The 2022 Beijing Olympics are well underway, and many Olympians from across the world have tasted golden glory. Sadly, American alpine skier and 2-time Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin has yet to be one of them.

Shiffrin won a Gold Medal in the women’s slalom event in 2014, and another in the Giant Slalom at the 2018 Olympics. However, she has been struggling at the 2022 Olympics, as she was unable to produce good results throughout three events.

Shiffrin, in today’s Women’s super G event, struggled to find her footing, only being able to reach the ninth position. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old has taken it in the best way possible, coming out with a great motivational and positive message.

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Mikaela Shiffrin pens a heartwarming and motivational message

Despite her failings at the Beijing Winter Olympics so far, Mikaela Shiffrin is looking up and ahead. Today, she wrote a beautiful message to the world on her Instagram page.

Referring to herself as “the girl who failed,” she wrote that “she could also fly”. Shiffrin admitted that failure is “a lot to digest in just one event, let alone the whole rollercoaster ride of an entire Olympics”.

Nevertheless, she has not lost hope at all. In her own words, Mikaela Shiffrin is going to “hang on tight to the (roller) coaster”, as there is “plenty still to come”. In fact, her first downhill event practice begins tomorrow.

Furthermore, she also took the opportunity to address anyone in the world, including her competitors, who are “feeling that striking hurt of defeat”. She had an extremely motivating piece of advice for anyone feeling upset over not succeeding, regardless of what aspect of life it was about.

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“Only let it (defeat) beat you down for a little bit,” Shiffrin wrote. “Then, you stand back up again and throw a few punches back,” the Colorado-born Gold medalist advised.

Moreover, she also thanked her team “for their unfailing support through triumph and the tough times as well”. Looking back on her day, she said, “today was a good day, so I’m just gonna let it be that”.

Surely, the champion alpine skier is taking a positive outlook on her struggles and looks forward to overcoming them.

Shiffrin congratulates and admires her competition

Mikaela Shiffrin also addressed her competitors in the Olympics, sending them a word of appreciation and praise. “It’s wonderful to train and compete alongside these courageous and incredible women,” Shiffrin expressed.

She described how her competitors “have overcome so much in their life” in order to get to the Olympics, the biggest sports stage in the world.

However, she does acknowledge that being at the Olympics “can really hurt too”. “There’s a lot of disappointment and heartbreak going around in the finish area, but there’s also a lot of support,” Mikaela wrote, as she posted pictures with her competitors, her mother, and her boyfriend Aleksander Kilde.

Finally, she lauded the winner of today’s super G event, Lara Gut-Behrami, Mirjam Puchner, and Michelle Gisin, who won the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals respectively. Talking about the winners’ accomplishments today, she wrote that “every day there are at least a few spectacular and inspirational performances that we all get to witness and admire”.

Clearly, winning does not just mean a podium, but a mentality and attitude- one that Shiffrin is quite familiar with, as she remains humble in both.

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