BEIJING — Not long after Mikaela Shiffrin skied off-course for the third time in five races at the Beijing Olympics, she wondered aloud to reporters about what sort of vitriol might be directed her way.

“There’s going to be a whole chaotic mess ... that people are saying about how I just fantastically failed these last couple weeks in the moments that actually counted,” the two-time gold medalist at other Winter Games said after failing to finish the slalom run of the two-leg Alpine combined on Thursday. “It’s really strange, but I’m not even afraid of that right now.”