I found myself yelling at the TV as I just watched the post-competition interview with Jennifer Heil on CTV, who just won the silver medal for Canada in the ladies moguls event.
The questions were worded as though to make her feel terrible for not winning the gold medal. ‘So Canada still doesn’t have a gold medal on home soil‘, ‘what are you going to feel when you’re up on the podium with your silver medal‘, ‘did the pressure affect your performance‘, etc. It was a disgraceful interview.
Congratulations Jennifer! Canada’s proud!
While I do agree that the interviewer’s questions were somewhat inappropriate, the expectations for Heil were not for her to win a silver. Being the defending Olympic champion and having won her last four international mogul events, not to mention the fact that this may be her last Olympics, the expectations from the Canadian people and especially herself were enormous, and it would be untrue to say that anything less than a gold would be a disappointment.
It’s not that I’m disappointed in her, it’s that I’m disappointed for her.