The French men’s skiing program sent home Mathieu Faivre from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang for remarks he made about his team in a post-race interview.
Faivre finished seventh in the men’s giant slalom skiing event and said he was “disgusted by the result.” But he doubled down when asked about his French teammates, one of whom won a medal and three of whom placed ahead of Faivre.
“I’m here to race for myself only,” Faivre told reporters, according to BBC. “I felt I was skiing well in the second run but when I saw where I’d finished it was like a slap in the face.”
Faivre is notable for being the boyfriend of American skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who won gold in the women’s giant slalom event.
He later wrote an apology on his Facebook, but took that opportunity to clarify his comments.
“Skiing is an individual sport that is practiced as a team. However, when we are in the starting gate, only our individual race and our own performance are important,” he wrote. “So yes, when it came time to give my feelings on my race, 10 minutes after crossing the finish line, only my performance and failure were present.”
Faivre was scheduled to compete for France in the men’s Alpine skiing team event Saturday.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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