Let me first start by saying that I have nothing against Joss, Schlopy, or McRae. They are all my friends and happen to be insanely talented skiers. If it were up to me, the US would be allowed to bring them all, especially since the US produces a huge amount of slope skiers compared to any other country.
That being said, there’s no doubt in my mind that Tom should have been given the discretionary position. Not only has Tom had consistently high scores in every event he’s done in the past few years, but he’s shaped our sport in ways that no other slope athlete has ever done. He’s been the face of our sport, country, and the ‘unofficial’ US team for the past several years; just ask Matt Lauer from NBC who has interviewed Tom twice about the US Freeskiing program and slopestyle as a future Olympic sport.
I fully understand that the 4 or 5 Olympic qualifiers were used to secure spots based on OBJECTIVE goals and a point scale. The discretionary spot is the exact opposite. It’s a SUBJECTIVE position that should take into account not only comp results, but past history of that skier, comp results, accomplishments, film segments, ability to make film segments and ski outside the park, etc. Wallisch’s accomplishments and medals on the slope are staggering, but what he’s done for film segments, tv shows and general representation of the sport far exceed what he’s done in competitions. It seems to me that Olympic committee has completely overlooked all these things.
They failed to realize that Tom is also the ONLY skier of the 3 potential athletes to have landed multiple triple flips, and has admitted that he would have done them in the Olympics. On the surface that may seem trivial, but lets be real, we wont hear the announcers stop talking about “who will throw the triple?!”.
Sorry for the rant, but I feel so bad for Tom who’s put in an enormous amount of work to get to where he is today (not saying the other athletes haven’t) and falling this short due to the lack of insight (and foresight) of the Olympic committee. They used the objective goals of the first 3 Olympic spots to decide the discretionary spot that should have been a subjective decision. It’s a real bummer because All of these athletes will presumably have a chance at the 2018 Olympics, and the its unlikely for Tom.
Lastly, I am extremely stoked for Joss to go have this opportunity, his performance in the last few qualifiers were out of control, and I enjoyed watching him destroy the PC course. He’s definitely a hot rider
Spark notes:
1. Wallisch had consistent comp results in the last 4-5 qualifiers
2. His comp results of the past few years are staggering and were not considered in this decision
3. His accolades and accomplishments outside the slop course were not considered
4. He’s the only athlete with multiple triples
5. Tom is unlikely to go to the 2018 winter games
6. I wish the Olympic committee would have spent more time thinking about this decision
A quick word on blocking ads
It looks like you are using an ad blocker. That's okay. Who doesn't? But without advertising revenue, we can't keep making this site awesome. Click the link below for instructions on disabling adblock.
