Great competitors need a killer instinct to succeed. It doesn't need to be there for public relations but it needs to be there on the race course, in the training, in the scheduling and in all the small details that lead to success. Maybe that leaves Lara (and Lindsey and Bode and a lot of others) open to criticism but the results are what really matter.
The good public face and athletic beauty are nice additions. Enjoy our stars.
Eric
There's a lot to be said for that. Though so much of the behind the scenes stuff is not in the hands of the athletes. It gets taken care of, more so than ever. And I think that being great with the press, with fans, etc. has always been tough, particularly on tough days. The whole world of media is just so different in 2017. So, yeah, it's more than PR, it's more than a publicist. It's full on tactical social media campaigns, backboned and driven by serious market research. So, we might as well get used to a bigger disparity between the "real" person, and the marketing face than ever before.
And no doubt there is some "snapping" off camera, more by some than others when anything is "not right." I had, wrongfully, I guess, assumed that Gut was more on the go with the flow side, than the snap-show side.
I'll weigh back in after checking in a couple of days with two friends. One is a journalist who covers the sport, who has been so positive about Gut. My hunch is that when she interacts with him, she is fully "on" and just charming and delightful. He probably is out of the loop, or just not "digging into the details" with the group that basically works on the WC. I have zero insight into the Swiss. Don't even know who she trains with, and if she is on her own program. Is her father {Pauli?} still driving all of this?
Would be curious as to whether she trains with Tina Weirather, Holdener, etc. Or on her own. I had been assumption that she was more part of a team, but I bet I'm wrong. If her dad is still the head of things, this is making perfect sense to me.
@Primoz, when she signed with Head, did she pick up Chris Krause as her tech? Is he still with her? Another piece of the pie.
So many parts to the program. I can easily deal with the temperamental, driven, hard to deal with superstar. So what else is new? Most have been that way. The current mode of being completely reinvented via social media is what it is. Vonn, Mancuso, Maze, and Gut, I guess. I do think that what we see is what we get with a few of the women. They may have a lot less to gain and less focus on it at this stage of their careers.
Nothing shocking or surprising, I guess.
