Tuesday’s men’s freestyle Big Air final was one of the most dramatic at the Olympics.
However, the thrilling excitement that came from American Mac Forehand’s historic jump also came outrage from Team USA fans.
On his final jump, Forehand needed at least a 97.50 — a score that has never been achieved at the finals of any Winter Games or at a biennial World Freestyle Skiing Championship — from the judges to have a chance for a gold medal.
The 24-year-old rose to the occasion and became the first person to land a nose butter triple cork 2160 and it earned him a 98.25, which temporarily put him over Norway’s Tormod Frosad in the gold medal position.
Forehand was in absolute disbelief at the finish as he waited for Frostad’s next jump to decide his fate.
The Norweigen then pulled out his best trick, landing a nose butter dub bio 16 to narrowly take away the gold medal by a score of 98.50. He became the first competitor to land that trick.
The final scores sent American fans into a tailspin over a gold medal that they thought Forehand deserved.
However, Forehand, a Fairfield, Conn. native, quickly shut down any notions of questioning the final score.
“I’ve seen it so many times before: I got robbed, someone I beat got robbed — rob this, rob that,” Forehand told Yahoo Sports. “But we know so much about our sport. We know what scores well, what should do well. The guys that are out here tonight know what the podium is going to be at all times. People on the outside perspective might not really understand that, but that’s just how it’s going to be. And, you know, judged sports — like I’m sure in figure skating — it’s the same way. But what do they really know about our sport?”
In the end, Forehand’s trick — one that he hadn’t practiced before — didn’t let him keep the gold medal position for long, which he expected.
“I knew I’d go into first,” he added. “But I knew Tormod had another trick in his bag that could score really high.”
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The trick consisted of six full rotations and in an event like big air, the skier who puts down the most spins on a difficult trick usually claims the crown.
However, the cards didn’t fall that way Tuesday.
A different set of judges could have seen it all differently, but the controversy was largely on social media, not at the finish.
“The level of skiing was off the charts today,” Forehand said. “The way [Frostad] does it, the approach on takeoff is so unique and so different. I don’t think anyone’s ever done those two tricks before so it’s cool to see that and it’s good for our sport. We can only spin so much and it’s pushing the boundaries in a different way. I wish I could do tricks like that.”
