Notes from Sochi: Miller drops out out of slalom

Bode Miller's Sochi Olympics are over, one race earlier than he had hoped.

Given that he'll be 40 by the time the 2018 Games roll around, the American's Olympic career might very well be over, too.

Miller will skip the last event on the Alpine schedule, the slalom, after reinjuring his surgically repaired left knee while finishing 20th in Wednesday's giant slalom.

Miller tweeted the news: "I'm bummed I'm out for the slalom, I wanted a miracle."

He leaves with a bronze in the super-G, making the 36-year-old Miller the oldest Alpine skier to win a medal. It also was his sixth Olympic medal, which ranks second among men in Alpine history and is tied for second among U.S. Winter Olympians in all sports.

In his other Sochi events, Miller finished eighth in the downhill and sixth in the super-combined.

"I feel like I was capable of more," he said Wednesday, "but my effort and my intensity were as good as I could possibly put out there."

"Again, I was the best German. The old one must do it again," the 41-year-said.

That shred of satisfaction fell far short of her expectations. The 5,000 meters has been her signature race ever since she won her first of three golds in the event at the Albertville Games 22 years ago.

She wanted to be back on the podium in Sochi, accepting her 10th Olympic medal. Instead, she finished fifth in the 5,000 Wednesday, but she would not rule out trying again in four years.

"Why should this be the end?" she said rhetorically when asked if she might skate at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. An hour after the race, she was more detailed and more optimistic.

"That 10th medal in 2018 in Pyeongchang is still possible," she said.

Chuck Berkeley, who made the 2010 Vancouver Games team and was on the World Cup roster this season, said the teams for Sochi were chosen based largely on an athlete's popularity. He said the USA-3 women's sled Jones is pushing at the Olympics would fare better with someone else in her spot and that Jones has "had a very bad attitude."

"I get that people want to latch on to a media sensation and run wild," Berkeley said, referring to Jones. "But it comes down to this: There are athletes who deserve to be there who are not there. … And you have to ask yourself why is that the case. What is wrong with the selection process? Why is it flawed? Why is it corrupt?"

U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation CEO Darrin Steele said he stands by the team selections.