2 Washington Post sportswriters were laid off, but they’re still covering the Olympics anyway

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Washington Post columnist Barry Svrluga was reporting from his first Winter Olympics when Lindsey Vonn left her hospital bed after a crash and returned to compete days later at the 2006 Turin Games.

He is back in Italy two decades later at the Milan-Cortina Games and there again to write about it when Vonn ended up back in the hospital after another crash. Even though he’s losing his job.

The Post announced two days before the Olympics opened last week that it was eliminating its sports section while laying off a third of its editorial staff. Svrluga said the newspaper originally planned to send 14 staff members to these Games.

With air tickets and accommodation already paid for, Svrluga is one of four of the paper’s journalists who decided to still come. He is in Cortina, Rick Maese is in Bormio, and Les Carpenter and national staffer Robert Samuels are in Milan.

“They can take away our section,” Svrluga said, “but in a way, they can’t take away our spirit.”

Of the four, Svrluga and Carpenter are being laid off. They came to their final assignment anyway.

“I wanted to be occupied,” said Svrluga, who is at his 12th Games. “I love covering the Olympics. … I had Lindsey injured in Sestriere and then had her gold [Vancouver in 2010], and I’ve had every one of her Olympic races, whether they were successes or not. Same with [Mikaela] Shiffrin.”

The first Olympics that Svrluga worked at was the 2004 Athens Summer Games, and he was struck by the way colleagues at the paper collaborated at such a big event.

“It felt like a team sport for us, and that benefited the section and the paper,” Svrluga said. “What we’re trying to do here is remind people — readers and decision makers — that these are a lot of committed people who were doing things for the right reasons.”

Carpenter, the Post’s Olympics writer, is at his eighth Games. He’s been covering figure skating, speedskating and hockey.

“The Post sports department always had such a great connection with its readers. I felt I had to stay to tell the story of this Olympics for them,” Carpenter said. “It’s what I’d want as a reader. If this is the end for Post sports, let’s give our most loyal readers our best.”

Shiffrin trusted reporter with personal news

Svrluga gave his readers — and the wider skiing community — reason for pause even before he got to Cortina.

An extensive pre-Games interview with Shiffrin and her mother and coach, Eileen, turned into much more than an Olympic preview story when they revealed to Svrluga why Eileen was absent at the start of this World Cup season: She had been diagnosed with cancer and faced six weeks of treatment.

“This was a very personal situation,” Svrluga said. “I’m thankful for them that they trusted me with the information. It’s their story to tell.”

Staff reductions are ‘tragic for readers’

Changes across the industry have resulted in fewer American reporters attending events like the Olympics.

“That’s tragic for readers,” Svrluga said, noting how the extra space in the reporters’ interview areas at the finish lines are “great for logistics and sad for the business.”

Some of the people whom Svrluga has reported on at the Olympics have reached out to him after word spread about the cuts at the Post. It’s happened back in Washington, too, he said.

“People who have won World Series, people who own teams. I’ve been there 22 years, so you build relationships over time, even with people you battle with a little bit or you write something they don’t like. It’s still a human element to it,” Svrluga said. “So I’ve heard from more people than I can count.”

But, he added, “You don’t want to be the story. You want to cover the story.”

The Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, called the layoffs painful but necessary.

“You could argue maybe we’re in this position because we didn’t adapt or see what is coming next,” Svrluga said. “It’s obvious people get their news in different ways now. I’m ‘old school’ in one regard. … I hope that the people who are in their 20s and early 30s, like when I first went to the Olympics, are figuring out whatever’s next. I would love for it to include written storytelling, because that’s what I like to do.”

A final story

Eliminating the Post sports section was a sharp blow since the department has hosted many well-known bylines through the years, including the likes of John Feinstein, Michael Wilbon, Shirley Povich, Sally Jenkins and Tony Kornheiser.

Svrluga’s final column from these Games will mark his final story for the Post. In the meantime, he’s going to try to enjoy the Olympics — and being in Italy — more than he usually does while on assignment.

“The red wine,” he said, “will flow.”

Dampf writes for the Associated Press.