There’s something uniquely frustrating about watching NBC milk American athletes for all they’re worth

Variety

"As has become Olympics tradition, NBC has spent every night of its primetime coverage unveiling the stories of top U.S. athletes like it’s selling a weepy drama about their lives," says Caroline Framke, noting that alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin is "trying to mount a comeback through debilitating grief over the recent death of her father, whose grin always used to wait for her beyond the finish line. For NBC, these segments represent 'heartwarming' tales of resilience and pride, especially if the athletes involved manage to beat the odds and land a medal. When they don’t, the dial turns to 'heartbreaking' as the network zooms in even further on crestfallen faces to make sure the audience understands the depths of their devastation. Emphasizing failures as much as victories isn’t a new phenomenon to NBC’s Olympics coverage, but it’s uncomfortable to witness every time. NBC spends so much time finding human interest stories at the Olympics, but when one of the athletes actually reveals just how human they are, the commentators fall all over themselves in shock. While creating inspiring narratives is a mainstay of sports coverage (not to mention reality competition shows in general), there’s something uniquely frustrating about watching NBC, the sole U.S. broadcaster of the Olympics, milk American athletes for all they’re worth. After days of telling audiences about how much Shiffrin’s struggled since her dad’s death, watching her barely make it through a live Feb. 8 interview after her second failed event was genuinely crushing — especially as it became clear that NBC had no idea how to handle it...Shiffrin and other spotlighted athletes like her know exactly how much time and effort NBC has put into promoting her. Realizing how many eyes are on her performances, and how the network’s pushing her to the forefront with all the bells and whistles at its disposal, only spikes the pressure even more. And what did Shiffrin get for her moment of honesty? A brief pause, before the interviewer finally released her with a jarringly chipper, 'thanks for stopping by!'"

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