Olympics
French skier Mathieu Faivre was sent home from the Winter Olympics on Sunday after making selfish comments when asked about his teammates’ success following the men’s giant slalom competition, reports 9News.
Faivre, who is American skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s boyfriend, finished seventh in the event, but three of his countrymen placed ahead of him in the top six. When asked about his teammates, Faivre said he was “disgusted with the result” and “I’m here to race for myself only.”
David Chastan, the director for the French men’s skiing program, confirmed to multiple media outlets Monday that Faivre had been sent home for “disciplinary reasons” and will not compete in the Alpine skiing team event Saturday.
The 26-year-old Faivre, who is from southern France, later apologized for his comments in social media posts, saying in part that he is “hot-blooded.”
“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,” Faivre wrote on Facebook. “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 and Shiffrin started dating last summer, Shiffrin told Us Weekly. She described it as a “very new fresh thing” because they haven’t been able to go on many dates due to the distance between them; Faivre lives in France and Shiffrin lives in Colorado.
Shiffrin won gold in the women’s giant slalom competition last week and announced Monday that she will skip Wednesday’s downhill competition to focus on the combined event the following day.
