I’m sure this had nothing to do with it.
It was, perhaps, the defining moment for the U.S. team at this Olympics.
Not Shaun White blitzing the halfpipe in a final run to win gold, a win that came with some baggage by itself. Or Chloe Kim delighting fans from two countries when she won her halfpipe, either.
No, it came on Friday when — within 20 seconds of each other — Nathan Chen skated his way out of medal contention and Mikaela Shiffrin faltered in the slalom she had been expected to ski away with.
And with it went any chance the U.S. had of redeeming itself in what is shaping up as a frustrating Olympics for an American team that had hopes of ending up near the top of the medal table.
The biggest team in the Olympics — 241 athletes — has been a flop so far, winning so few medals that you can count them on both hands. Take away the new wave of snowboarding events, and you can count them with one hand.
But if those waving the red, white and blue want a statistic that really stuns, consider this one: Norway, a nation of 5.3 million people is leading with 26 medals so far, or one for every 212,000 Norwegians.