Of course silver can be personally disappointing, but that's because the mindset of an athlete is to win, not to aim for second. Anything less is still an amazing acheivement, which they often acknowledge, but missing out on being number one is always disappointing if they thought they had a chance. If it wasn't a sure thing, getting any medal (or even being at the Olympics) is still something they cherish and are proud of.
Just look at the 19 year old guy in the 400 meters... he came last in the final, but was still over the moon for being at the Olympics, and "being the 8th fastest in the world on the day" in that event.
People need to remember that this is the Olympics. The best of the best in the world as of this week...
Even participating is an achievement that 99% of the rest of the world could only dream about. But to obtain a medal of any sort, is a level of "eliteness" unmatched by EVERY other sports-person who didn't even get one.
There is a saying that you never remember who got second place, but to those people holding onto one, it is just icing on the cake of actually being at the "elite" Olympic games.
Realistically, our position (globally) should be kept in perspective here... of the major powers/countries in the world, isn't it a bit egotistical to expect Australia, a country that barely makes it in the G20 or has minimal influence/power on the global stage, to be expected to be top 5 or even top 10? Media and licence-holders (of the Olympics branding) are the ones blowing it out of proportion, just because we got a couple better-than-expected results in recent Olympics. Really... think about it - make a list of the 10 most powerful/dominant/important countries in the world, and does Australia rate in the top 5, or even top 10? Getting an Olympic Table result that has us beating more powerful countries than ours is something to be celebrated if it happens, but not expected.
We may be 19th on the Medal Table that sorts by number of Gold, but of total Medals, we are currently equal 7th. That means only 6 countries in the ENTIRE world have got more Medals than Australia... a tiny little country at the ass-end of the world. And who are those 6 countries? China, USA, GB, France, Russia, Japan.
Beating any of those, which include all 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council they are that "important", would be an achievement that is above our expected ability.
In 2008 we were 6th by way of Gold, and 5th by way of Total Medals.
In 2004 we were 4th by way of Gold, and equal 4th by way of Total Medals.
In 2000 we were 4th by way of Gold, and equal 3rd by way of Total Medals.
These results are an extraordinary achievement, compared to the rest of the world. Our tiny little country beat out major world powers... and now it is expected of us?
That's a heavy burden on our athletes, who have sacrificed so much just to get to the Olympics to begin with.
Our results in 1992 (10th), 1988 (15th), 1984 (14th), 1980 (15th), 1976 (32nd), would be more in line with our population/funding/resources.
Our politicians and media are over-stating our significance in the world, leading to disappointment later if we don't achieve that "
punching above our weight" result we got in previous games.
We should be proud of being able to beat countries that have more resources, more money to invest, more people to have gifted athletes...
It should also be unwise to have our government throw more (tax) money and resources at something that occurs once every 4 years, and doesn't change anything here no matter where we are on the table. It only benefits big business, and the rich elite profiting off our athletes' success. To inspire the next generation of athletes, and get our kids more physically motivated, schools need to be including/increasing sporting time. Without that, this 18 days every 4 years isn't going to change the health and Olympic success of our kids.
If more money is to be "thrown" at elite sports programs to improve future Olympics results, it should come from the big corporations profiting off the Olympics brand and any of the successes that comes from it. The Olympics are now a multi-billion dollar business now, so the companies & media paying for exclusive rights to use the brand, or cover it, a percentage of those licensing fees should go into an AOC sporting fund. Then if the media wants to complain about failed performance, they can take responsibility for how much they invested to begin with.
Our Tax dollars should be spent on more important things, like feeding and housing the 100,000 homeless, or making it easier for the million-plus who are struggling with rising everyday costs.
Instead we have politicians spending Billions acquiring Commonwealth Games (in 2018, costing $1.1-2+ billion) and the G-20 summit (in 2014, costing $370million+) hoping to improve their voter support. How many starving, homeless children could those sort of dollars help... but then, those aren't voters, so the politicians will only "bribe" the ones who will get them re-elected.
Moral of the story - enjoy the Games if you are into that sort of thing, and congratulate/support the athletes, no matter where they come. Because none of them regret being at the Games.
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Originally Posted by griffin
I love this story as it demonstrates the true spirit of sports... victory measured not in points or places, but with courage and relentless determination. We often tell kids that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game -- and I think this is an excellent example of that noble ideology.
Go Tanzania!!
