'The Girl Who Failed... Could Also Fly': Mikaela Shiffrin Shares Encouraging Advice About Dealing With Defeat In Olympics

(AP/CBS4) -- Mikaela Shiffrin was visibly upset after skidding out of control about five seconds into the opening run of the slalom on Wednesday. Shiffrin sat in the snow and bowed her head on her bent knees. The run was even shorter than her 10-second-or-so trip down the hill in the first run of the giant slalom on Monday. Some argued NBC's coverage of her performance -- and raw interview as she fought back tears -- was cruel.

On Wednesday, she placed ninth in the Super-G, another disappointment.

On Friday, the 26-year-old Coloradan released an encouraging message about overcoming "the striking hurt of defeat" in a competition seen around the world. She described the Olympics as a roller coaster ride full of inspiration and wonder, but admitted there is also "a lot of disappointment and heartbreak."

"The girl who failed... could also fly," Shiffrin wrote.

Shiffrin had some advice for coming back from failure:

"Only let it beat you down for a little bit," she wrote. "Then you stand up again and throw a few punches back."

Shiffrin noted the incredible amount of support for athletes at the Olympics and thanked her own team -- saying she was beginning training on Saturday for her next event.

Shiffrin has shared much about her innermost thoughts over the past several months, via social media and traditional media. She discussed the ways in which she empathized when seeing athletes at the Tokyo Olympics such as gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Caeleb Dressel share their feelings about pressure and expectations last year.

"Today was a good day, so I'm just gonna let it be that," she finished in the statement she shared on Friday.

(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)