This week something outrageous happened – a red-hot Aussie favourite got narrowly beaten in the Olympic swimming pool.
Then, only two days later it happened again, except this time it was excruciating, with victory only 1/100th of a second away.
But the most ludicrous aspect of all of this was that both times, the Aussies in question had the cheek to be disappointed with second.
Years of swimming thousands of laps and waking up at sparrow’s to prepare for a once in a lifetime opportunity, only to miss out when your moment finally arrives.
Knowing that your best swim could have won the gold medal, but not knowing why you couldn’t achieve that time in the most important race of your life, with 22 million people halfway across the world pinning their hopes on you.
Don’t these swimmers know that being anything but ecstatic with silver, regardless of the context, is the most-un Australian thing ever apart from missing the gold?
Emily Seebohm and James Magnussen reacted the same way that anyone else would have in their situation.
People have been quick to brand them as bad sports for their post-race actions, but the fact is being disappointed is not bad sportsmanship.
After the 4x100m men’s freestyle relay, in which Australia finished fourth, Magnussen was visibly shattered.
He had missed his best time by a full second and was instantly turned into Australia’s Olympic villain.
He had little to say to media after the race and that made it worse, because obviously being speechless is the equivalent of being a petulant brat.
Seebohm on the other hand, could not say enough, an absolute wreck after her 100m backstroke final.
Yet her tears were seen as something more than the manifestation of the feeling that you have let down an entire nation in under a minute.
The reality of the situation is that she had let down no one, but I highly doubt that there was much rational thought going through her mind during her post-race chat.
In the 100m freestyle final, Magnussen had obviously learnt his lesson. After being touched out by a margin invisible to the naked eye, he stayed in the pool, stunned by the events that had transpired.
In the aftermath US winner, Nathan Adrian said, “I would still accept what an honour it is to have a silver medal. This is the Olympics after all.”
These words served as a reminder as to the significance of winning an Olympic medal of any colour.
But then, he wasn’t the one who lost.
Not being happy with a silver medal is not un-Australian and it is not bad sportsmanship.
Every athlete goes in to their Olympic event hoping to win and struggling to smile when you finish second best is not selfish or petulant.
Both Seebohm and Magnussen were upset for themselves but both showed the utmost respect for the actual gold medallists.
None of their negative emotion was directed at Missy Franklin or Adrian, it was always about their own failure to achieve what they knew they could.
This is what being an athlete is all about.
Your job is to do the best you can and, ultimately, to win.
These two swimmers swam their hearts out, but they both knew they could, go faster.
In fact both of them swam faster in the races to get them into their respective finals than in the main event.
So, let them be devastated, let them show their emotions and unleash from the increasingly robotic nature of professional athletes.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
There's no should. If they aren't happy, they aren't happy, and they aren't obligated to be happy.
Axelv
Guest
Pretty much. Doing your personal best to come from behind and finish to win Bronze or Silver is a win. Swimming slower than you have all year, and slower than what you swam in the semi's, being the favourite and missing out by .01 of a second on Gold after being in front is a loss. Don't these people understand context? Who wouldn't be shattered after something like this, the only person that could handle it would be someone that has won Gold before, of which Magnussen hasn't and who knows, maybe he'll never win one, a lot can happen in 4 years.
Axelv
Guest
The Foxtel commentator's constantly bag the crap out of our athletes, that middle aged lady won't stop taking pot shots at the men's swimming team, she was at it all night.
B.A Sports
Guest
Agree 100%
Harry
Guest
I'm not a technical expert but I was interested to hear Susie O'Neill (who would know what she was talking about) say that Magnusson made a poor turn, and we were all bewildered by how he was clearly ahead with 5 to 10 metres to go but was touched out. In other words, his all round racing technique and skills weren't as good as the American. At this level, that counts. I don't criticise Magnusson or Seebohm for their disappointment at silver. Can understand why they are gutted. IMO serious questions need to be asked of the coaching staff and general setup as to why swimmer after Australian swimmer has performed poorly in the Finals at these games - consistently under their trial times, and heat times. Schlanger or however she spells her last name the latest example whereby she actually swam slower in the 100 M freestyle final than she did in the semi. Its happened too much this week to be a coincidence or one off.
Will Sinclair
Guest
Magnussen in particular has every right to be shattered. After all, he actually swam well enough to win the gold medal. He wasn't denied by a better competitor on the day, just by the vagueries of life - 1/100th of a second means it is likely that he and Adrian actually touched the wall at the same moment, but the force of Adrian's touch registered first. Heartbreaking. (And this is not a whinge - everyone signs up under the same conditions, and so has to be ready to accept defeat under those conditions.)
Will Sinclair
Guest
God I'm glad I have Foxtel. I have not watched a single minute of Channel Nine's coverage, and it sounds like I am not missing much. The Olympics on Fox is the ultimate in sports fan channel surfing - swimming to rowing to basketball to kayaking to volleyball to equestrian to sailing to water polo.... AND back to swimming to rowing to... etc etc
B.A Sports
Guest
Agree. Brayshaw in the Mens4 rowing final halfway mark Australia in 2nd and apparently in the best lane, Brayshaw "Australia in the best possible position" - No the best position would be 3 lengths ahead of the field. Needless to say they died in to fourth.
B.A Sports
Guest
Only if the time/effort you put in was your best.
cjones
Guest
The fact is they were beaten by a better performance on the day so should be happy with silver
JVGO
Guest
One of the problems does stem from the nature of the channel 9 TV coverage and the media in general where idiots like Sutcliffe and Karl S keep talking up every swimmers prospects for gold, gold, gold because they believe this will suck in the viewers. This gets the public hyped up and they barrage the swimmers on social media, just piling up the pressure. Even the friends and family will be saying the commentators are saying you've got a big shot. If we had commentators who actually knew something about the sport unrealistic expectations might not be initiated and this whole pressure loop might be short circuited and viewers and even the swimmers themselves might not be sucked into the whole process. There seems no doubt that the whole social media thing absolutely intensifies the problem.