BORMIO, Italy — Atle Lie McGrath’s gold-medal hopes in the Olympic slalom slipped away. His ski poles were then thrown away. And then he simply stumbled away through the snow toward the woods.
It was all part of an epic Olympic meltdown that turned Monday’s race into high-tragic theater.
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Click on the drama right here.
“I thought that I would get some peace and quiet, which I didn’t,” the Norwegian ski racer said of his retreat from the course after losing out on a medal. “Because photographers and police found me out in the woods. But I just needed some time for myself.”
McGrath, who was born in Vermont but grew up in Norway, entered the final run of the final men’s race at the Milan Cortina Games with a big lead in his best event. But after straddling a gate, McGrath lost a medal and then control of his emotions in a race won by Loic Meillard of Switzerland.
The 25-year-old McGrath tossed each pole over the safety netting lining the Stelvio course. He then climbed the fencing on the other side of the course and made his way through the snow to the edge of the wilderness, where he laid on his back.
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McGrath later arrived in the finish area and walked away without talking. More than two hours later, he met the media at a nearby Bormio hotel.
“I’m normally a guy that’s very good when it comes to perspective on things,” he said. “And if I don’t ski well in a race, I can at least tell myself that I’m healthy and my family’s healthy and the people I love are here. So that’s nice, but that’s not been the case. I’ve lost someone I love so much and that makes it really hard.”
McGrath has been racing with a heavy heart, with his grandfather dying the day of the opening ceremony. He wore an armband as a tribute.
“What he’s gone through these last 10, 12 days, it’s been really tough,” said teammate Timon Haugan, who finished fourth in Monday’s race. “He’s been really sad. He started to do better and today he’s going through ... we need to really back him up today.”
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McGrath was close to a medal, too. Very close. His mistake happened right in front of a Swiss coach standing on the course, whose celebration for Meillard’s now-guaranteed gold medal caused the team to later apologize to the Norwegians.
“I gave myself the absolute best opportunity you could today,” McGrath said. “I skied so great, and I still couldn’t get it done. So that’s what really hurts.”
Haugan felt for him.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” he said. “He’s doing everything perfect. He did a very good first run, put himself in a position to win the Olympic gold. He does everything right and then that happens in 15 seconds.”