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A16 sports
Tuesday 18 January 2022
Steelers face long-overdue reboot as Roethlisberger exits

By WILL GRAVES AP Sports against the Browns but opt-
Writer ed to bring back Roethlis-
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Ro- berger can no longer kick
ethlisberger came back for the can down the road.
one more run, wanting a There are pieces in place
chance for his final perfor- to build around. All-Pro out-
mance to not be a lopsid- side linebacker T.J. Watt is
ed first-round playoff loss. in his prime and a contend-
Even with his closest friends er to win his first Defensive
gone. Even with a first-year Player of the Year award.
offensive coordinator. Even Rookie running back Najee
knowing he'd have an al- Harris and rookie tight end
most completely rebuilt of- Pat Freiermuth look very
fensive line. Even with rook- much like long-term fixtures.
ies likely to take over in the Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is
backfield and at tight end. due a contract extension
The longtime Pittsburgh and All-Pro defensive line-
Steelers quarterback and man Cam Heyward is a
future Hall of Famer's re- worthy successor to Roeth-
ward? An unlikely postsea- lisberger as the keeper of
son berth and ... a lopsided "The Steeler Way."
first-round playoff loss. It's a way that will need
Pittsburgh's unwieldy sea- some recalibration over the
son came to the crashing next six months. Pittsburgh
halt that was practically hasn't won a playoff game
inevitable in a 42-21 whip- road — manifested them- pass to Zach Gentry as the keep going, and so, as we in five years, the longest
ping at the hands of Kansas selves over the final three clock ran out. The 39-year- move from one chapter to drought of any team in the
City on Sunday night. The quarters. Patrick Mahomes old married father of three the next, it's going to be dif- AFC North. "I take it very
Steelers (9-8-1) arrived at did whatever he wanted met briefly with Mahomes ferent, but it's going to be personal when we don't
Arrowhead Stadium as the whenever he wanted. It at midfield, saluted the fun. It's going to be a chal- have playoff success," Hey-
longest shot in the 14-team looked an awful lot like a fans in black and gold who lenge and I'm looking for- ward said. "I will be back at
field and played like it. handful of games from ear- stuck around to the bitter ward to it." the drawing board trying to
The issues that plagued lier in the season, includ- end, then walked into the The team he's leaving be- figure out a way if I am on
them all year — from offen- ing a 36-10 whipping in the tunnel — and into the next hind, maybe not so much. this team." Heyward almost
sive coordinator Matt Can- same stadium the day after phase of his life. The franchise that had ev- certainly will be. Yet he
ada's ineffectual play call- Christmas. "Being a husband and fa- ery opportunity to make a may be one of a few high-
ing to a defense that was Roethlisberger's career like- ther, you never take a day clean break after last year's profile holdovers for a team
consistently drilled on the ly ended with an 11-yard off," he said. "You've got to flameout in the first round in transition.q

German luge star Geisenberger says she's going to Olympics

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer Geisenberger and almost all of the world's top man rights situation nor anything else," Geisen-
Natalie Geisenberger has made it official: She's luge athletes were at the Yanqing Sliding Cen- berger wrote Monday. "Unfortunately, it takes
heading to the Beijing Games and seeking a ter north of Beijing this fall for extended training more than just a few athletes to boycott. Then
third consecutive Olympic women's luge gold on the Olympic track, followed by the first World I would have destroyed my own dream in the
medal. Cup race of the season. But not long after leav- first place. There would have been a different
The German slider, generally considered the ing China, Geisenberger told German regional name somewhere on the list of results.
best in the history of her sport, had considered broadcaster BR that she was considering skip- "It shouldn't be that athletes now have to pay
skipping the Olympics for a multitude of rea- ping the Olympics. for what the IOC and politicians decided 10
sons — including human rights issues, and her "The conditions that we experienced there years ago," she added. "Hence my decision to
belief that luge athletes were not treated well speak in favor of not necessarily going back fly to Beijing."
by Chinese officials when training there earlier there again," Geisenberger told BR in Decem- Geisenberger became a mother for the first
this season. ber. time after the 2018 Olympics, missed a year of
But in a social media post on Monday, the four- She spent several days in quarantine after ar- competition, then returned to the World Cup
time world champion and eight-time World riving in China for a three-week training and circuit with eyes on 2022. She said her family has
Cup overall champion laid out her reasons for racing period in November. She got there on a sacrificed considerably on this Olympic journey
deciding to compete in what presumably will charter flight that carried basically the entire In- and she didn't want to let them down by not
be her final Olympics. ternational Luge Federation circuit to China for competing.
"We athletes have absolutely nothing to do with those events, then wound up being among the She turns 34 on Feb. 5, the first full day of com-
the decision to award the Olympic Games to sliders identified as a potential close contact to petition at the Beijing Games.
Beijing — the (International Olympic Commit- someone who was aboard that flight and test- "The Olympic Games are not just any event,"
tee) decides and we athletes are presented ed positive for COVID-19. she said. "It is the greatest of all for almost every
with a fait accompli," Geisenberger wrote. "We Despite testing negative daily, Geisenberger athlete and cannot be compared to anything
only have the choice: do I fly there and give ev- said rules put in place by Chinese officials man- in terms of sport. I can't say 'then I'll just go next
erything or do I just let my sporting dream burst dated that she would not be allowed out of year' — there are only Olympic Games every
so close to the end." her room for several days other than for training four years."
She chose to go and will be considered among sessions. She also said food dropped off outside Geisenberger is fourth in the women's World
the top medal hopefuls — along with fellow her door wasn't to the standard that elite ath- Cup standings this season with one race left,
Germans Julia Taubitz and Anna Berreiter, Aus- letes need or want. coming this weekend in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
tria's Madeleine Egle and American sliders Sum- "If I had said now that I would not fly, nothing She has medaled four times — three silver, one
mer Britcher and Emily Sweeney. would have changed in China, neither the hu- bronze — in 11 races this season.q