'Double standards': Explosive twist in Mikaela Shiffrin uproar

America's Winter Olympics broadcaster NBC has hit back over its controversial coverage of Mikaela Shiffrin's Beijing Games heartbreak.

One of the biggest stars of the American team has had an Olympics campaign to forget after crashing out of contention in the early rounds of her two favourite events.

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The 26-year-old two-time Olympic champ hit a gate early in her first run of the slalom, mirroring her misfortune from two days prior in the giant slalom as her gold medal hopes in both events were brutally destroyed.

Images of a devastated Shiffrin sitting on the snow with her head slumped to her chest left fans hurting for the 26-year-old.

Already bruised after her error in the giant slalom, her second DNF in as many attempts snapped a remarkable run of consistency from the former Olympic champion, who had not recorded such a result in the previous four years.

Shiffrin skied out of the women’s slalom, her best event, after just five gates. She then sat off to the side of the course with her head bowed for more than 20 minutes.

NBC aired all of it, including a teary-eyed interview afterwards, as the competition continued without her.

A distraught Shiffrin said her performance made her "second-guess the last 15 years... Just processing a lot for sure, and I feel really bad”.

The devastating story took another twist on Thursday when Shiffrin issued a statement through a US Olympic spokesperson that read: “Mikaela (nor her mother/coach Eileen) will not be doing any media for the foreseeable future. Thank you for respecting her/their space right now.”

NBC copped widespread backlash for the coverage of Shiffrin’s emotional and premature end to her second straight Olympic race, with many labelling it insensitive and even sexist.

However, NBC executive producer Molly Solomon told The Associated Press that she had no regrets about the coverage, insisting the broadcaster was just doing the job expected of it.

“We have an obligation in that moment, as the broadcaster of the Olympic games, to cover the moment,” Solomon said, via The Associated Press.

“There’s no script when there’s a wipeout on the slopes or a fall in figure skating. We’re watching real people with real emotions in real time and we did everything we were supposed to do.”

NBC responds to Mikaela Shiffrin uproar

Shiffrin failed to finish in the giant slalom and the slalom, events she was expected to contend for a medal.

She had not failed to finish in back-to-back technical races since her first season on the World Cup circuit more than a decade ago.

Shiffrin is still scheduled to race in the downhill and super-G.

Though her finish wasn’t what she had hoped, NBC’s coverage of it isn’t something Solomon is second-guessing.

The NBC exec accused critics of having double standards when it comes to male and female athletes and said she believed there would not be the level of uproar if was a distraught men's competitor who was featured on the coverage.

“Here we are in 2022 and we have a double standard in coverage of women’s sports," Solomon added.

"Women’s sports should be analysed through the same lens as the men. The most famous skier in the world did not finish her two best events. So we are going to show her sitting on the hill and analyse what went wrong. You bet we are.”

with agencies

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