Kauf ‘delivers the love’ with silver medal
At the Tetonia Club in Alta, Wyo., they clung to one simple phrase as the bedlam gained steam while their daughter, sister and friend, Jaelin Kauf, edged closer and closer to the Olympic silver medal: “Deliver the love.”
Kauf delivered the love. A spot on the podium was a fitting reward to go with it.
Half a world away from Alta, the 25-year-old Kauf finished second Sunday in freestyle moguls, an event her family has set the standard in over decades. Kauf’s mom, Patti, and her dad, Scott, are multiple-time champions in the freestyle discipline from back in the ’80s and ’90s. Patti also won three Winter X Games titles in skicross.
They gathered at Scott’s bar with around 100 of their closest friends to watch Jaelin make a trip down the hill that will force a bit of rearranging in the family trophy case. The action started at 4:30 a.m. in Wyoming.
“She had the biggest smile on top of the course and everyone’s like ‘She’s got it,’ ” Patti said. “She smiled every run. Her motto was to go out and deliver the love, which is to remind her about her love of the sport. And that’s what she did. And I couldn’t be more proud.”
Kauf spent time as the topranked skier in the world and went into the Pyeongchang Gamesamong the favorites to win a medal. But moguls is one of the most fickle events on snow. She finished seventh there. She bashed into a tree and suffered a back injury at the beginning of last year. All of that made her wonder if keeping on in this sport was really worth it.
That’s how “Deliver the love” became the catchiest phrase in Alta.
“I got into the sport because I love it, and that’s why I’m still competing in it,” Kauf said. “Every time I push out the start gate for training or competition, I just want to deliver the love and do it without reason.”
The return
After getting a devastating morning phone call that she had tested positive for COVID-19, Tahli Gill and her Australian mixed doubles curling teammate Dean
Hewitt were out of the Beijing Olympics. A few hours later, another call. They were back in. Highlighting a day they’ll never forget, Gill threw the takeout shot that resulted in a three-ender, or three points, that tied the score against Switzerland at 6 in the sixth end. The Aussies won 9-6 for their first victory after opening their first Olympics with seven losses in a row.
Weather issues
The men’s downhill at the Beijing Olympics was postponed a day because of wind that gusted at up to 40 mph at the top of the course when the race was supposed to start Sunday,delaying the opening event of the Alpine schedule. The downhill was rescheduled for after the women’s giant slalom. Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States, defending her Olympic gold from 2018, misses a gate on her first run and was disqualified.
Room service
Olympic organizers say they’re addressing complaints about isolation conditions for athletes who test positive for the coronavirus and are working to ensure they have clean rooms, better food and access to training equipment and the internet. “These are exactly the kind of things we have to address. It’s a duty. It’s a responsibility. We have to make sure that the expectations are met,” said Christophe Dubi, the International Olympic Committee’s executive director.