Team USA's Dreams of a Record Olympics Are Suddenly Falling Apart [View all]

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Team USA’s Dreams of a Record Olympics Are Suddenly Falling Apart

As household names underperform all over Italy, the first week of the Games has yielded only four golds for the Americans. Can their Olympics be salvaged?

https://www.wsj.com/sports/olympics/team-usa-olympics-ilia-malinin-ce6709dc

They came to Italy for a gold rush. 
From the downhill course of Cortina to the cross-country tracks of Val di Fiemme and a figure skating rink on the edge of Milan, members of Team USA envisioned themselves spending the entire Olympics on the top steps of podiums. And with the biggest delegation here, they dreamed of a run that would surpass their record 10 gold medals the last time they hosted the Winter Games. 

Then came the disastri. 

One by one, America’s made-for-TV stars fell short of expectations. Lindsey Vonn crashed. Chloe Kim fell. Mikaela Shiffrin struggled. The most shocking fumble of all came on Friday night when figure skater Ilia Malinin, the self-proclaimed “quad god,” melted down in the brutal heat of the Olympic spotlight.

It was merely the latest disappointment of an Olympics souring faster than burrata in the sun for Team USA, which is suddenly on track for its fewest winter golds since 1998. 

A full week since the Opening Ceremony, the U.S. was stuck on four, the same number as Sweden and Switzerland. The Americans are looking up in the medal standings at host nation Italy, which is on pace for its best-ever Olympics, and they have been lapped by the Norwegian gods of the Winter Games.