Mikaela Shiffrin has dealt with more than just her performance struggles at this year’s Olympics.
After failing to finish another race, this time the slalom portion of the Alpine Combined event, Shiffrin showed on Twitter the vitriol she has received on social media.
Shiffrin posted pictures of quotes of criticism, including: “Can’t perform as soon as she has competition,” “Should have left the slope immediately after crashing to get out of the way and out of the spotlight,” “Finally got what you deserved,” and “Can’t handle the pressure.”
In a second tweet, Shiffrin responded to her social media critics.
"Well kids...feed 'em what you wanna feed em. Self pity, sadness...let the turkeys get you down, There will always be turkeys. Or get up, Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again,” 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's not always easy, but it's also not the end of the world to fail. Fail twice. Fail 5 times. At the Olympics.”
Shiffrin continued with her response, explaining why she continues to move forward and not allow these comments to stop her.
“Why do I keep coming back? Gosh knows it hurts more than it feels good lately. I come back because those first 9 turns today were spectacular, really heaven. That's where I'm meant to be. And I'm stubborn as s---. So let's go for some team event training tomorrow, and then the final alpine race of this Olmpics [sic] on Saturday."
Shiffrin’s final Olympic appearance will be Saturday, when she joins Team USA for her first mixed team parallel slalom.
