By ANDREW DAMPF
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Washington Post columnist Barry Svrluga was reporting from his first Winter Olympics when Lindsey Vonn left her hospital mattress after a crash and returned to compete days later on the 2006 Turin Video games.
He’s again in Italy 20 years later on the Milan Cortina Games and was there once more to jot down about it when Vonn ended up again within the hospital following one other crash. Regardless that he’s losing his job.
The Put up introduced two days earlier than the Olympics opened final week that it was eliminating its sports activities part whereas laying off a third of its staff. Svrluga stated the newspaper initially deliberate to ship 14 workers members to those Video games.
With air tickets and lodging already paid for, Svrluga is one among 4 of the paper’s journalists who determined to nonetheless come: He’s in Cortina, Rick Maese is in Bormio, and Les Carpenter and nationwide staffer Robert Samuels are in Milan.
“They’ll take away our part,” Svrluga stated, “however in a approach, they’ll’t take away our spirit.”
Of the 4, Svrluga and Carpenter are being laid off. They got here to their ultimate task anyway.
“I wished to be occupied,” stated Svrluga, who’s at his twelfth Video games. “I really like masking the Olympics. … I had Lindsey injured in Sestriere after which had her gold (Vancouver, 2010) and I’ve had each one among her Olympic races, whether or not they have been successes or not. Similar with (Mikaela) Shiffrin.”
The primary Olympics that Svrluga labored at was the 2004 Athens Summer season Video games and he was instantly struck by the way in which colleagues on the paper collaborated at such a giant occasion.
“It felt like a workforce sport for us and that benefited the part and the paper,” Svrluga stated. “What we’re attempting to do right here is remind individuals — readers and determination makers — that these are lots of dedicated individuals who have been doing issues for the suitable causes.”
Carpenter, the Put up’s Olympics author, is at his eighth Video games. He’s been masking determine skating, speedskating and hockey.
“The Put up sports activities division all the time had such a terrific reference to its readers. I felt I needed to keep to inform the story of this Olympics for them,” Carpenter stated. “It’s what I’d need as a reader. If that is the tip for Put up sports activities, let’s give our most loyal readers our greatest.”
Shiffrin trusted Svrluga with some private information
Svrluga gave his readers — and the broader snowboarding group — purpose for pause even earlier than he received to Cortina.
An extensive pre-Games interview with Shiffrin and her mother and coach, Eileen, changed into way more than an Olympic preview story after they revealed to Svrluga why Eileen was absent in the beginning of this World Cup season: She had been identified with most cancers and confronted six weeks of therapies.
“This was a really private state of affairs,” Svrluga stated. “I’m grateful for them that they trusted me with the knowledge. It’s their story to inform.”
Workers reductions are ‘tragic for readers’
Modifications throughout the business have resulted in fewer American reporters attending occasions just like the Olympics.
“That’s tragic for readers,” Svrluga stated, noting how the additional house within the reporters’ interview areas on the end traces are “nice for logistics and unhappy for the enterprise.”
Among the individuals who Svrluga has reported on on the Olympics have reached out to him after phrase unfold concerning the cuts on the Put up. It’s occurred again in Washington, too, he stated.
“Individuals who have received World Collection, individuals who personal groups. I’ve been there 22 years, so that you construct relationships over time, even with individuals you battle with somewhat bit otherwise you write one thing they don’t like. It’s nonetheless a human component to it,” Svrluga stated. “So I’ve heard from extra individuals than I can rely.”
However, Svrluga added, “You don’t wish to be the story. You wish to cowl the story.”
The Put up’s govt editor, Matt Murray, known as the layoffs painful however vital.
“You would argue perhaps we’re on this place as a result of we didn’t adapt or see what’s coming subsequent,” Svrluga stated. “It’s apparent individuals get their information in several methods now. I’m ‘old skool’ in a single regard. … I hope that the people who find themselves of their 20s and early 30s, like once I first went to the Olympics, are determining no matter’s subsequent. I might love for it to incorporate written storytelling, as a result of that’s what I love to do.”
A ultimate story and ‘the purple wine will stream’
Eliminating the Put up sports activities part was a pointy blow for the reason that division has hosted many well-known bylines by the years, together with the likes of John Feinstein, Michael Wilbon, Shirley Povich, Sally Jenkins and Tony Kornheiser.
Svrluga’s ultimate column from these Video games will mark his ultimate story for the Put up. Within the meantime, he’s going to attempt to benefit from the Olympics — and being in Italy — greater than he normally does whereas on task.
“The purple wine,” he stated, “will stream.”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
