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Athlete Berated Over Bronze Medal - Yahoo! News UK

[Mat]

it is just the reporter who is extremly bad....

Quote
"the reporter chipped away. "The result really is a shame. Feel bad?""
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[climber07]

Originally Posted by Mat

it is just the reporter who is extremly bad....

Who do you think the reporter works for? He is just a tool of the communist propaganda machine operated by the Chinese Government. It's the same despicable antics that took place in the Soviet Union during the height of the cold war.

My old fencing coach, Vladimir Nazlymov (who is basically a legend in the sport), told me a story once about the team returning from the 1972 Olympiad in Munich. Soviet teams (including fencing) were dominating the sport stage at the time. The "motherland" expected nothing but gold. When they returned home from their "field of battle", they were treated as heroes, with flowers, parades, ceremonies, etc.

However, a misfortune struck in Munich, the Men's Sabre team ended up with Silver (oh the shame!!). No one met them in airport, no congratulations were offered, just a letter from the head of the sports department expressing his disappointment and regret that the team did not work hard enough.. Not much has changed.

A commie is a commie.

[aussiegal]

I think that the pressure the Chinese athletes must be under is immense. Not sure how so many of them are pulling through and actually winning gold.

But the second place isn't good enough attitude is also being seen in Australia. Not by the coachs or media but certainly by the public. I've read so many comments that essentially say, if you're not going to win gold why bother going?????

Stupidity and unreasonableness (is that even a word?) is not restricted to certain nationalities though I do believe the commie countries do it best.

As for Aussies, we're known for our tall poppy syndrome so it doesn't surprise me to see such idiocy coming from home.

[Stoob]

I wouldn't be surprised if Liu Xiang was pressured to try and run the 110 hurdles heats even though they knew he had a potentially career ending injury risk....

.... what's the career of one athlete compared to the pride of the mother land?

[Claire ex-ax]

In the ancient Olympics only the winner was honoured. Those who made false starts in the running events were chucked out, not before a damn good thrashing. Now that's tough.

Did anyone else catch the pictures of the Eastern European weightlifter who popped his elbow backwards? Yikes! Send by a friend who didn't think better...

[KnowItAll]

>> In the ancient Olympics only the winner was honoured.

As is the case for most situations in life ...

Does anyone remember who the runner up is for any of the Nobel prizes?

[aussiegal]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

>> In the ancient Olympics only the winner was honoured.

As is the case for most situations in life ...

Does anyone remember who the runner up is for any of the Nobel prizes?

Perhaps but without people willing to compete (and perhaps not end up on the podium at all) there is no olympics so i don't think it's a fair comparison.

I think I prefer it the way it is, top three honoured. These are people who for the most part devote their lives to their sport. Some recognition, even if it's mainly in their own eyes is better than nothing and it sure helps them get a bit of payback (financial) for their efforts. Medallists will get endorsements, the alternative scenario of honouring only first place would hurt sport as a whole.

[climber07]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

>> In the ancient Olympics only the winner was honoured.

As is the case for most situations in life ...

Does anyone remember who the runner up is for any of the Nobel prizes?

And that's fair. However, the Nobel prize runner-ups are probably not reduculed for "failing" their country.

An athlete puts enough pressure on him/herself to succeed. The nationalistic pride is just bullshit. I can guarantee you that none of those critics are fit enough to compete in the first place. It's easy to judge...but when people don't have what it takes to participate in the sport and do better, then they need to shut the f**k up. I would have asked that reporter how many medals he won?

Having said that, my coach was definitely shaped by his prior experience. After the competition he would only congratulate the gold and the bronze winners and never silver. His rationale was that a person who comes in third, most likely did not have enough skill (or was not of the same caliber) as the athletes who made the final, and thus by getting third he already probably overachieved for his potential at the time. However, he felt that the guy who comes in second, is typically as good as the one who comes in first, but lacked the heart and determination to get the win.

[Claire ex-ax]

From Jerry Seinfeld:

The Olympics is really my favorite sporting event, although I think I have a problem with that silver medal.

I think, if I was an Olympic athlete, I would rather come in last than win the silver.

If you think about it... if you win the gold, you feel good.

If you win in the bronze, you think: "Well, at least I got something."

But if you win that silver, it's like: "Congratulations! You... almost won."

"Of all the losers, you came in first of that group."

"You're the number one... loser."

"No one lost... ahead of you."