Why doesn’t anyone know who David Wise is?
By Justin Peters, Slate
Immediately after finishing his final run in the freestyle skiing halfpipe event, David Wise tossed his ski poles into the snow. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Wise said, apologizing to no one in particular. “I got a little excited.”
Wise had good reason to celebrate. His first two runs of the three-run final had been busts, sabotaged by a broken binding on his skis. But the binding held together for his last run, a superlative, twist-and-flip laden jaunt that earned him a score of 97.20—5.20 points higher than the mark that won him the gold in Sochi. Wise’s superlative final run held up, earning his second consecutive Olympic title. As I watched him come through in the clutch and listened to NBC’s announcers read off his accolades, I wondered one simple thing: Why isn’t David Wise super famous?
He ought to be. Wise is the best freestyle halfpipe skier in the world, and the only man ever to win gold in the freestyle ski halfpipe event, which made its Olympic debut in Sochi.