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| Mikaela Shiffrin |
NBC is strongly defending its Beijing Olympics coverage of U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who came into the Games a favorite to medal in five events, but has so far been eliminated just a few seconds into her first two races, falling in the giant slalom and missing a gate in the slalom.
After her elimination in the slalom, NBC's cameras focused on Shiffrin for much of the time as she sat on the side of the course with her head bowed for more than 20 minutes.
The network then aired an interview in which an emotional Shiffrin said she was second-guessing everything she's done in skiing for the past 15 years.
NBC rejected the criticism that they were being cruel, with Molly Solomon, the executive producer of the network's Olympics coverage, telling the Associated Press, "We have an obligation in that moment, as the broadcaster of the Olympic games, to cover the moment. . . . We’re watching real people with real emotions in real time and we did everything we were supposed to do." Solomon also suggested there was sexism involved in the criticism, saying, "[I]f [quarterbacks] Joe Burrow or Matthew Stafford sit on the sidelines 22 minutes after the Super Bowl on Sunday, you can bet the cameras are going to stay on them. Here we are in 2022 and we have a double standard in coverage of women's sports. Women’s sports should be analyzed through the same lens as the men."
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