1984 was a very tough year. I recall it well. A LOT of medals, and Tamara McKinney was just nudged off the GS podium.
But I also recall an awful lot of “roadkill” left in the wake of not filling that team. Rudi and I are always on the same page….but on this one, I’d bring every body possible. In many cases to give the young ones the experience, so they are ready to “Kill it” the next time around!
I can totally see the logic in giving some of the younger athletes the experience: let them get over the "holy sh!t, it's the
OLYMPICS!!!" jitters and emotionally steel them for the next cycle.
Like I said above: the women's team will likely be full. The automatic qualifiers are well known: Shiffrin, Johnson, Moltzan, O'Brien. But beyond that? The women's speed team is either recovering from injury or not producing on the World Cup level right now. And the tech team is thin beyond MS, PM, and NO. I get that the USST is giving some of the future stars (e.g. Zimmermann, Rountree-Williams) some time in the big leagues right now, but sending them to Beijing? I'm not so sure.
The men's team is even more of an issue. The only
consistent performer has been Radamus. Bennett has his one win. RCS is still recovering from injury
and adjusting to new ski setups. Ganong is hit-or-miss. And sad to say it, but Nyman has no business being on the World Cup right now, let alone the Olympics. And then after that? Crickets - nothing but crickets.
Sure, you could send a big roster to Beijing to get them the experience, but
realistically how many of them will still be around in 2026? I'm not convinced the bench players will stick around that long unless they get top-notch support from the USST - i.e. not being forced to fundraise whenever they're not on snow, or to train outside the USST system because they didn't meet a mostly arbitrary age-vs-rank criterium.
So who do you pick? On the women's side, Hensien has shown hints of brilliance but seems to have hit a bit of a wall. Hurt is similarly capable of greatness but is super inconsistent. Cashman seems to be gaining some momentum, and she's still young - so perhaps send her with a discretionary pick. Wiles? Nope. Wright is injured, so...
And would I send Zimmermann or Rountree-Williams to Beijing? Probably not, were I the person picking. Maybe I'd tip the balance to Zimmermann, who has been in the pipeline since she was a second-year U14. But is it a worthwhile use of USST funds? Why not have these athletes get more miles under their legs in the Europa Cup and World Cup first? Let them compete at FIS Alpine Worlds next season to get the stepping stone to the rarefied championship event air.
Yes, 1984 was a confusing selection year but that team simply
performed at Sarajevo. Yes, there were many great athletes left off the roster - as there will be this year. And what happened in 1985? Twardokens and Roffe slayed in the World Champs GS. Doug Lewis (who was on the 1984 Olympic squad, finishing 24th) got third on a far more technical Bormio World Champs course.
In 1988 the USST was at a bit of a nadir, to be honest. Was it because they held back a lot of athletes in 1984? Maybe. But it was also a tough time for the team, in general. There were seasoned veterans on the squad as well as some relative newcomers, but it just happened to be a time when the team was in heavy-duty transition.
How many from the 1988 roster then went to to excel in 1992? AJ Kitt was 26th in DH at Calgary, 9th in Albertville. Jeff Olson was 28th in SG at Calgary, 13th at Albertville. Neither was markedly better. The two bright spots for the USST at Albertville were Hilary Lindh (DNF in DH at Calgary, 2nd at Albertville) and Diann Roffe (12th in GS at Calgary, 2nd at Albertville). One had become more battle tested, the other was resurgent after a post-1985 letdown.
It's complicated, for sure. And the financial backers of the USST - and the fundraising team - are going to look
extremely closely at the Olympics to decide how and where to spend in the future. Oy - no fun at all.
