There’s adversity and there’s the near-surreal run of misfortune the American freestyle skier has survived to make it back to the OlympicsTorin Yater-Wallace persevered through family tragedy, life-threatening illness and devastating injury to earn a spot on the US men’s ski halfpipe team in Pyeongchang, where he will make his second Olympic appearance starting with Tuesday afternoon’s qualifying runs (Monday night in the United States). In many ways, his life resembles the countless heart-wrenching but ultimately uplifting narratives that crop up around each Games. These poignant stories, which give mainstream audiences a sense of personal investment in sports they watch once every four years, typically follow the same formula: it starts with a dream, then talent and hard work are added to the mix before a heaping amount of adversity is introduced to heighten the drama. It’s an effective emotional hook, conditioning viewers to reach for the tissues with Pavlovian regularity each time those bellowing trumpets lean into John Williams’ familiar Olympic anthem. Related: Winter Olympics 2018: day 10 from Pyeongchang – live! Continue reading…

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/19/torin-yater-wallace-freestyle-skiing