This just all really sucks
An uplifting Olympics email for you this morning
Jessie Diggins was the first American woman — alongside relay teammate Kikkan Randall — to win a cross country Olympic gold. You may remember her surging across the finish line in Pyeongchang, with “USA” written on her flushed cheeks, and collapsing as soon as she had won the race. Even as she laid in the snow, completely exhausted, a bright smile took up most of her face.
Cross country skiing has never been a popular as downhill skiing in the United States. It’s likely when you hear the term skiing, you think of Lindsey Vonn flying down a hill, not Diggins or Randall pushing through the snow. Even in my homestate of Illinois, the second flattest state in the country and a place with plenty of snow, when people went skiing, they went to a manmade hill near the Wisconsin border or to resorts in northern Michigan.
You’re more likely to find cross country skiing in Scandinavian countries and in Russia, where the people are smart enough to use skis to get around when the snow won’t stop falling. (Chicago, for real, why don’t we do this?) But Diggins’ and Randall’s gold has brought increased interest to the sport in the U.S. Diggins started pushing for a World Cup event in America as soon as she had her medal around her neck.
Finally, she got her wish. For the first time in 19 years, the U.S. would host a cross country skiing World Cup event. Not only would it be in the U.S., it would be in her home state of Minnesota.
The event was scheduled for March 14-17.
You can guess what happened next. With coronavirus rightly scaring the hell out of us, and international travel at a standstill, the World Cup was canceled.
It’s the right decision, just as it was the right decision for the NBA to suspend the season, and for the the world figure skating championships to be canceled. I have asthma, and will not be leaving my house much over the next week or two. We all need to do our part to flatten the curve.
But it being right doesn’t take away from the fact that this all really, really sucks. It sucks that Diggins won’t get a chance to show off cross country skiing to her home state, and that Nathan Chen won’t get a shot to win his third straight figure skating world title. It sucks that Vince Carter might not get the farewell games he has earned over two decades in the NBA. It sucks that seniors in basketball and wrestling and indoor track and field will have to compete in silent arenas, if they even get to play at all.
Tending to those who are sick, preventing the spread of the disease and helping the many people whose livelihood is threatened by everything being shut down is more important than anything else facing us. But it’s OK to admit that this all really sucks.
Gymnast Morgan Hurd won the American Cup in Milwaukee over the weekend, and according to USA Today’s Nancy Armour, made a good case for a spot on the Olympic team.
Fencer Mariel Zagunis qualified for her fifth Olympics and helped qualify a spot for the U.S. Saber team. She’s a two-time gold medalist and just an overall badass.
Sully says it’s OK to just cuddle up with your people.