This morning we woke up to the news that Stephanie Rice is considering retiring from swimming after being disappointed by her race results in London this week. She isn’t the only athlete who has been visibly distressed at their own performances at the Games.
Yesterday, we saw swimmer Emily Seebohm in tears after winning a silver medal. And James Magnusson wasn’t even able to speak to the media after his ‘devastating’ swim in the men’s relay.
True, these athletes train for years and sometimes even decades to make it to the Olympics, it’s completely understandable that they’re deeply upset when they don’t perform at their best. However there does seem to be a public mood around this year’s Games that is a bit……off.
24 hours after her second place finish, Emily Seebohm made some revealing comments about the kind of pressure she was feeling to perform for fans back home.
“I know I haven’t let anyone down but I let a little bit of myself down and it was really tough last night, I’m sorry… The emotions are really high and there is so much pressure on the Olympics, and you put so much pressure on yourself. All you want to do is just go out there and represent your country and do a good job, and I was just trying to do that,” she said.
Mamamia’s Mia Freedman tweeted last night:
Here, health ambassador, Grace May writes for Mamamia about the pressure that athletes are under to perform – not only for themselves – but for country, their fans and followers back home – and the role that the media and social media play in magnifying that pressure…
Stephanie Rice, James Magnussen and Leisel Jones have been under huge media scrutiny and have received an equal amount of media attention and support.
Olympic silver medalist Christian Sprenger, Olympic silver medalist Emily Seebohm and the Gold medal winning women’s relay team arrived in London relatively under the radar and their hard work paired with their humility has made them the great stories of the games thus far.
I think we often look at our Olympians as if they were born great, born better, more talented, stronger, faster and then we expect them to win. Until I got to know some of the Australian swimmers over the last few years I had no idea what was involved; the effort, the sacrifice, the motivation and the pressure. There is no doubt that these athletes are naturally talented yet it is their physical and mental preparation that defines them.
It’s hard not to feel after the first three days of the Olympics that our media obsession with athletes may have hindered them in the long run. We expected great things from great athletes, we heaped expectation upon them and our reaction when they didn’t win has been poor indeed, especially in the case of the men’s relay team.
Grace with Emily
The media attention is disproportionate and sometimes difficult to understand. Christian Sprenger will undoubtedly be remembered for his silver medal in this his final Olympics, he has however been a world class Australian athlete with FINA , PAC PAC and Commonwealth games medals under his belt. The fact that we have heard little about Sprenger may indeed have been a blessing as it allowed him to prepare in peace.
We saw Stephanie Rice break down at her placing and the fact that superstar backstroker Emily Seebohm felt that she had let anybody down in her silver medal and Olympic record effort is ludicrous.
Emily has endured a great deal in the last 18 months in terms of overcoming health and personal issues to be here with her entire family and is one of the most genuine, hardworking and talented people you ever hope to meet.
As Emily’s smile beams out across televisions Australia wide and Australia falls in love with the incredible twenty year old, one thing I am sure of is that there are many more medals in this fabulous athlete’s future.
My fondest wish is that the Australian media learns from London 2012 and is able to find a balance between athlete admiration and becoming a problem in the athlete’s mental preparation and performance.
Grace is Fashion One Oceania editor and a sports mad healthy communities ambassador. Find her on Twitter here.
Comments
126 Comments so far
Pingback: A Prescription for Perspective ‹ Social Journalism
I am appalled by Giaan Rooney. The fact that an ex-Olympian could stick a microphone in a silver-medal-winner’s face 60 seconds after a race and say “You must be devastated” or “what could you have done better” is disgusting. Does she have no conscience?? On the one hand you have swimmers who are still very young and inexperienced and were not expecting to get a medal, but come away with bronze or silver. This is an amazing achievement. On the other hand you have swimmers who are generally very successful and are already pretty cut up with the fact they were half a second (or less!) too slow for a gold medal and do NOT need to have an interviewer rub this in their face.
I am also appalled by those observers at home who criticise our athletes for crying. They are not ungrateful for winning a silver medal, but when you KNOW you are capable of swimming time X and you only swim time X.12, only JUST missing out, that must be really disheartening and with all that adrenaline going through your body and the heightened emotions of the day, anything could trigger tears. I felt especially sorry for Emily Seebohm who was beaten by Missy Franklin who swam a SLOWER speed in the finals than Emily had during the heat. That must really suck. And some people had the nerve to abuse Emily for her tears. It’s a wonder anyone would want to be an Olympic swimmer in Australia.
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Absolutely we have lost perspective! Talk about a first world problem! Oh, whinge whinge, we’ve only won a single gold medal…meanwhile athletes from dozens of developing and/or war-torn nations are nothing short of thrilled just to set foot in an Olympic venue. Open your eyes, Australia – we’ve got it so good; it’s time we started appreciating what we have instead of what we don’t.
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I unfriended someone on facebook afer being so ticked off from hearing yet another person complain about the ‘outcome’ of our olympic medals standing and their reasoning and who to blame. I’ve totally had enough. They are amazing. ELITE is the word to describe the people that get to train for this platform that has been operating every four years for, oh i dont know, over a MILLENIUM, let alone actually qualifying to compete at the olympics and then make finals and GET A MEDAL. It’s such an accomplishment to be considered for the olympics and something that we should be so proud of. I think it comes back to the old tall poppy syndrome we unfortunately have in this lucky country.
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That moment immediately after a race when they have a microphone shoved in their faces they most likely are disappointed. Not all of them will be some will be over the moon with a bronze some won’t. These athletes know their bodies so well and they themselves may feel they didn’t race as well as they know they can. Upon reflection after it’s had time to sink in their tune may change dramatically. Having people in the media say “You must be shattered” is just as dumb as asking someone who’s just lost a loved one if they’re sad. Give these athletes a bit of slack they have trained day in day out for at least 4 years and it’s a lot of emotion and nerves!!!
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Someone at my workplace spoke down about an olympian who placed fifth (not naming names, you can work it out… I won’t further that chit chat)
… I simply replied “Sure, but how many olympic races have you finished 5th in the final for?”
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If Emily Seebohm thinks her parents are disapointed in her for winning a SILVER medal at the OLYMPICS….then wow, my parents must hate me!
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The expectation that althetes should be interviewed seconds after finishing a race whether they win or lose contributes to the issue. There is no time to reflect or absorb the moment. They have spent years of their life, giving up so much to get there – it is an emotional moment. The recent abc show on Australian’s obsession with sport pointed out how Cathy Freeman sat on the track after her race giving her precious moments to process her win – why can the media allow all althetes that moment.
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Dont worry it is not just Australia. I’m in europe at e moment and after that first bike race where GB were expected to w and didn’t splashed all over the news was ‘devestation’ and ‘tragedy’. We have definitely lost perspective and it has been two fold.
Firstly, how many people in the world actually make the Olympics? It is such an achievement in itself and winning any medal should be celebrated. I understand it must be hard when so much hype and pressure is put on you and you don’t live up to this unbelievable expectations. But I wish all our athletes knew how proud they are actually making their country whether they win lose or draw I have great admiration for them all!
secondly, these words that are being used for athletes not winning gold medals are disgusting. It is not tragic when a swimmer gets a silver medal, it is fantastic, brilliant and inspiring! It is however tragic when scores of innocent people are killed everyday in war zones.
Please Australian (and all other) media, stop with the negativity and get in board with celebrating our athletes, cause that is certainly what I’m doing!!
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We’ll take Emily and Stephanie and Liesel. In fact, send all your losers to New Zealand. A silver in the swimming would be awesome. So far we have two bronzes in the entire Olympics. And we Kiwis and the NZ media are absolutely ecstatic to have won them.
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Very cool K-pearl! We’ll keep them for now if thats ok.
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oh, alright then. But if they decide they really want to be so adored that 40 years from now their grandchildren are getting asked to sign autographs, you know where we are!
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I agree K Pearl – I have been very disappointed to see the poor attitude in the media here in Australia, not just around the athletes who havent won gold, but also the many digs at Great Britain for not having won medals yet, and in the Aussie – Spain Hockey match last night, reference to the ‘five nil thrashing’ – very poor sportsmanship, and something I hazard a guess, we wouldnt hear in the media in NZ
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The great sadness of these Olympics for me is the number of athletes who seem to be under so much pressure that they have not been able to take a moment and appreciate what an amazing achievement it is to just MAKE an Olympic team. Medal or no medal, surely they should be allowed some time to reflect on this remarkable feat after all their sacrifice and effort.
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Just to clarify on Steph Rice, she isn’t considering retiring because of disappointment. It is more about the shoulder injury she has and how she will be able to come back from it – if at all, and the pain she has had to endure to even get to this Olympics. If she wasn’t trying to defend titles you would have to wonder whether she would have tried as hard as she had to even get there.
As for Emily Seebohm, I am still in shock that she would be so distraught at coming second and disappointing her parents. All the interviews with her mother after her race seemed positive, you can only hope this was the message she was getting before the race as well.
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I was just scrolling down to write exactly this. Stephanie Rice has had an incredibly tough battle to get to London and I wasn’t surprised by her emotion at all.. On the other hand I do agree that there has been an unfortunate slant toward the negative from some athletes – they are at THE OLYMPICS. That in itself is an AMAZING feat!
In saying that, those relay boys were ready to take on the world, their previous times showed it, and I’m still shattered for them.
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Is this Gen Y crumbling under pressure?
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Spot on.
The ‘you’re fabulous’ generation who has never been told no or prepared to accept anything other than exactly what they want is crumbling because they’re not getting exactly what they want.
Parents, this is our warning.
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Please don’t start the Gen-Y bashing. It has become tiresome and is such an unfair generalisation. I have a friend who is competing in the Olympics who is Gen Y (as am I) and she is the most humble and dedicated person I know. She does not expect anything to be handed to her and works incredibly hard. I am so proud of her and Have welled up every time I’ve watched her compete. This is such a huge achievement for not only her but her family as well who have put in the hard yards to get her to this point. Whether she wins or loses she will be gracious and extremely appreciative of the opportunity she has been given. Just remember that these athletes and their families put in everything to get them to this point and yes, some athletes may be all the things you have mentioned definitely not all of them are.
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I don’t think Gen-Y is nearly as bad as portrayed (again, by the media…) but I do believe there seems to be less resilience overall. Gen-Y athletes may not expect a medal & accolade to be handed to them but they do seem to be at a loss when they don’t have one (or one with the right colour). Perhaps there’s an overall lack in preparing athletes for both wins and losses?
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I am so disappointed by the channel 9 coverage. They are the ones who are being negative. It was channel 9 where I heard that Leisel was out of condition, it was channel 9 where I heard the term weapons if mass disappointment. We flicked over to foxtel an are loving it! The guy who is doing their poolside interviews is so happy and positive and when the swimmers talk to him it rubs off and they come across as happy and positive! Plus we get to see so much more and we see it live. I was really looking forward to channel 9′s coverage but it is a big let down! Thanks to foxtel we are now equestrian and rowing experts….
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Agree…l only wish l had foxtel.!And l am so over hearing about the swimmers. There are many, many more Australian athletes BEsides the swimmers. And if l hear or see one more thing about mini magnum (aka james Magnuusen if you’ve been fortunate enough to see or hear him) …l think l’ll puke. l really hope some unknown wins this event!!
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I am a swimmer, love the swimming, and I am over the swimming. Especially getting them into the studio the next day or whatever and Karl analysing them. Excruciating!
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the Foxtel swimming commentary is just as bad. Ray Hadley & Rebecca Wilson are excruciating. Susie O’Neil is a ray of sunshine compared to the negative natterers beside her. I turn the volume down so I don’t have to listen to them.
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What I don’t think people get is the athletes mindset – they compete to win. Not to come second or third or any place thereafter. So if they don’t win, of course there is going to be a great amount of despondency. Both on their part and ours as a commentating public.
I think the sentiment we are seeing coming through from the media is a direct reflection of the results. It seems out of sorts because we are not usually in this position! We are usually punching above our weight at the games which makes our headlines incredibly positive.
Not this one though and we need to explore the reasons why, not only to do better at the next games but because we spend so much Government money on taking part. I welcome the criticism. In my mind, it’s well placed.
I don’t think the media or social media put any more pressure on an athlete than the athletes put on themselves. I’m sure a lot would agree and those who are affected would undoubtedly use it as motivation. It’s a win for everyone.
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I think social media has put a bit more pressure on them than anticipated – yesterday afternoon it was announced that all athletes were supposed to impose a social media blackout leading up to their events to reduce the amount of pressure on them (I don’t know if it was required, or advised – only heard the last bit on the radio….). Having said that, I would have thought that in the lead up to their events the support and encouragement they recieved via social media would have been a positive thing?
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Our family is dealing with a dreadful cancer diagnosis received last week that will cause us all sadness for the rest of our lives. It really puts into perspective the boo hooing and hype at the Olympics..not to mention the expense.Imagine if we spent all that money on a cure for cancer..even the $41m on the opening ceremony would do
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I do not understand where athletes think they are letting Australians down. They choose to perform for themselves – because hopefully they enjoy it and want to do it – for themselves. I have no expectations of them and they should not believe they are performing for us as a collective nation. Do well – great. If you don’t – so what. It is just sport at the end of the day.
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Exactly! Do your best and be proud of your achievment.
The nation will be let down by your attitude though if you carry on like a brat when you dont win.
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They are only human and put so much into their training and other life on hold for what they aim to achieve. I just hope they get debriefing training so they can acknowledge how far they came.
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Catherine…are you a psychologist???
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What’s the point of your post, anonymous?
Catherine made a perfectly valid point. Shame you couldn’t do the same.
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I don’t think we can judge these athletes too harshly for their words and feeling when greeted by the media scrum the minute they get out of the pool. They are elite athletes, and their whole world is directed towards this. Emily Seebohm was clearly upset at the end of the race, but pulled herself together for the medal ceremony. The media does have a role to play. Their expected reaction has to be part of the immense pressure these young athletes put themselves under (look no further than the shocking discussion of Leisel Jones’ weight!). Unless there in blatant bad-sportsmanship (which I have not yet seen from the Australians), I say, good on them!!!
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“….one thing I am sure of is that there are many more medals in this fabulous athlete’s future.”
Although I know your intentions were so good in writing this statement above, it is precisely this kind of expectation expressed in media which begins to apply pressure for Australian athletes.
The other comments in this piece were great though, and I wholeheartedly agree!
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We think the Australian athletes are under too much pressure, nothing compared to the Chinese…we are soft compared to them!
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Here’s a tip: You’re also the media. And yes the media did overhype this thing.
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Agreed… Let’s just stop discussing it!
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Hi Tip Master
Yes, we’re part of the media landscape. And we unashamedly present ourselves as a website that covers what everybody is talking about today.
We thought Grace’s piece was an interesting perspective on the issue of how athlete’s respond to pressure, particularly from the expectations of the public. It’s a valid topic of discussion and we don’t really see how this piece is over-hyping anything; it’s just prompting a discussion.
Jamila
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I may have missed something but I haven’t really picked up on all the “negativity” from the media. Everyone – most importantly the athletes themselves – were suprised when the men’s relay and Emily didn’t win. I thought the coverage on nine just reflected this surprise and apart from that they couldn’t have been more supportive towards them.
On another note – I know I will get bagged for this – but am I the only one who feels slightly nauseated when I hear athletes either called heroes or treated like one. Yes they work hard – but lots of people work hard.
The Olympics are my guilty pleasure – I do enjoy watching them but when I really think about it I think it just highlights how warped our priorities are. What does swimming up and down the pool really achieve? How does it actually help improve the lot of humanity? How can we possibly justify the millions of dollars that goes into sport? Sport’s psychologists… WTF! when we don’t even have enough school counsellors for troubled and at risk kids!!! Even worse is North Korea – how much have their gold medals cost the nation?? When there are people starving in that country!! So yes I do feel guilty for watching and enjoying the games!
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Theyre defintely not heroes, just athletes (which is great but hardly worthy of hero status)
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Definitely on this bandwagon. Doctors and nurses are heroes. Firefighters are heroes. Political activists who put themselves on the line to win the human rights of their people are heroes. Athletes are… very fit and have nice muscle tone.
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I’m with you Rudge. I don’t understand why academics and people who study why people think the way they do, how our thoughts shape the political landscape, art which changes people’s lives and so on are ridiculed for “wasting the taxpayers’ money” at uni but people who can swim are hailed as the gods of our time? Does. Not. Compute.
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It’s for the same reason we spend millions on fireworks at NYE. So Australians have something to look forward to.. The excitement people feel when yelling at their tv screens for someone to swim faster or throw quicker is something other countries don’t get to experience. It brings us together as a society and a nation. They may not be heroes but they most definitely are people for us to look up to and respect.
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Are you serious? Are we that tragic and apathetic that we get our major thrills from living vicariously? Christ.
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So there is no one in the world that you would admire and cheer for? I’m not just talking athletes here. I’m talking about anyone. You say below that you admire people’s mind. Would you not cheer (even if silently) if someone’s mind you admired had made a new discovery for example?
I think it’s sad that someone wouldn’t ever want to cheer someone else on that they admire.
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Look up to? Why because they’ve devoted their life to swimming up and down a pool (or whatever activity). I don’t hold any grudge against them and I think some of them present themselves well – but look up to them??? I’ll leave that to people who actually devote their lives to helping and improving the lives of others.
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Eeeeeexactly. I admire people’s minds. I admire thinkers. I kind of look at most athletes as automatons. They’re not necessarily stupid but most of them seem very limited in the imagination and personality areas, because their entire life has been so consumed by training they’ve never developed those other parts of themselves. Certainly their discipline and ambition is admirable but I don’t think there’s anything particularly unique about what they do. I also don’t buy the “doing it for Australia” thing. Bollocks. They’re doing it for themselves. Which is fine, as I’m no patriot, but I find those proclamations a bit silly and disingenuous.
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One definition of a hero is ‘a person who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great’.
Now, world-class athletes might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for many (millions) of people around the world, such athletes do achieve something great in the eyes of their admirers.
And what I really can’t stand is one person telling another who they shouldn’t choose as their hero. People have different values and ethics. Different dreams and aspirations. People are going to have different heroes.
What about people who are asked the question ‘who are your heroes?’ Many often answer that their heroes include their mother or sister etc. And usually it’s not because they have saved lives or found a cure for a deadly disease. They just really admire them for their own reasons. Nobody ever questions these people when they say their hero is their mother.
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Checking out the medal winners when they smile, I have been shocked by their teeth. From all countries.
Their parents can spend thousands over the years for their training and sporting equipment but cant get them proper dental care. THAT is tragic.
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Huh? Why does everyone have to have perfect teeth? I suspect you’re young and an avid reader/brainwashed victim of fashion magazines.
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No, I’m a parent who places dental health as a top priority.
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I tend to agree that there is a definite negative tone to alot of the articles written. Why aren’t we celebrating the fact that Alicia Coutts has 3 medals already – one of each colour. That’s an amazing feat, and yet we’re not hearing much about it. Let’s celebrate that!
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Agree and Alecia Coutts has been so modest and humble in all her success. Nice young woman, reminds me of the delightful Libby Trickett
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Absolutely, she is delightful and humble and someone we should be proud of. Her mother has done a wonderful job.
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she was crying for winning a silver medal.
all i can think is what about the swimmers who got no medals?
surely getting a silver medal at the Olympics is an achievement to be proud of?
i am so over sport, i don’t even know why i am commenting.
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Seinfeld can tell you why she was crying after her silver medal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAzzCeSXeuY
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That’s Gold! haha
Thanks for the laugh!
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That’s a very funny clip
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That’s where I’ve heard it before! I said in a comment below about coming second means yours first of the losers and said I had heard it somewhere once. Never would have remembered though – thanks for the funny clip!
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This year I went to the Australian Judo Nationals. Every single silver medallist looked like they had been kicked in the guts after their bout and yes, some were close to tears. To get so close to the ultimate and not quite make it is a huge disappointment. So I can understand the immediate despair. It is a skill in itself to suck that up and quickly transform it into something positive and good sportsmanship. Some people are better at it than others. Some elite athletes haven’t had to experience being second for a while. The swimmers are under even more pressure because they have the media on them and are not always given a few more seconds to compose themselves. The Australian media is notorious for only focussing on Australian performances and not showing great performances by other nations. It’s even getting to the point where they are not showing great performances by other Australian Olympians simply because they didn’t win. They totally ignore the courage and heart shown by the rest of the team. Mark Anthony may have had the fight of his life today by winning a match in the judo [my favourite sport] but Arnie Dickins, Ivo Dos Santos and Carli Renzi have also fought amazingly and well against terrific competition and no recognition of any significance by Ch9. I know the Aussie judokas are very much involved in the community helping other up and coming judokas train, getting involved in the committees running the sports, doing coaching clinic frequently on a volunteer basis. They are fantastic role models for the kids starting in the sports and there is many a kid who has stayed out of trouble due to their involvement in the sport. So there are many on the team who are not only athletes but heroes.
The media should not expect medals as of right. I expect a brilliant effort. A PB is nice. If that gets a medal, that is wonderful. I want to see great effort, great technique and courage. Any athlete that can do that is someone I can follow through the competition, no matter what nation they come from.
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Not related to the olympics – but definately to health: What is a healthy communities ambassador? Thanks.
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I think the reason we put so much pressure on our athletes is a) we like to win, and b) we spend a HUGE amount of money on training our athletes and expect a “return on investment”, sorry, but it’s true. You wouldn’t believe the money that has been spent on training and development in the lead unto the Olympics. When we win gold we somehow then believe it was all worth it, but when come away empty handed we do feel a bit ripped off……
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we have spent no where near as much money on our current team as previous olympics, or other countries.
If you want to see a huge amount spent on athletes, look up how many millions the Brits started putting in once London was confirmed.
And don’t forget, many olympic athletes pay their own way for years.
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If I am an elite athlete and in a race I expect to win and didn’t, then I would consider it a failure. If Magnusson get silver in the 100m he will not be happy. But the media don’t need to remind them of it so much.
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If you could get a PB but someone else did better and won gold, is that better than a slow race and a gold medal?
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Maybe the problem isn’t knowing how to win, it’s not knowing how to lose. It must be devastating to get to that elite level and then feel you let yourself down, however, isn’t the mark of a true winner in being able to be gracious in defeat? The ‘everyone gets a prize’ mentality isn’t helping anyone.
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Absolutely Anita!
We are now being told by experts that this style of parenting hasnt done our kids any favours. Just look at the sore losers at the Olympics.
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Perhaps if the media didn’t constantly talk them up, like they have it in the bag, then the reality of their results might be more palatable?
The way the media has led us all to believe that the medals are all but a foregone conclusion is disgraceful and puts additional pressure where it really isn’t needed.
We should be supportive of these hard working young people who have given significant portions of their lives training to represent their country a bit of a bloody break!
I don’t get all the negativity, I really don’t. They’ve tried their hardest, and yes they might be disappointed, but the public and more importantly the media shouldn’t be.
Who ever could live up to the media hype surrounding particularly our swimming team?
Sport isn’t everything – we need to remind ourselves of that
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I’m a bit torn here.
On one hand I think the media has a lot to answer for. I still can’t get that image of Adam Scott having the word “choker” stamped across his face on the 6pm news after the British Open. That plus all of the negativity that’s swarming around the Olympics for Aussie athletes seems uncalled for. I imagine it’s quite confusing for kids who receive medals and ribbons at school regardless of what they place. We’re telling children they’re winners just for trying but then they hear and see athletes being jumped on who don’t finish first.
On the other hand though – and I expect to be caned a bit for this – coming 2nd sucks as an athlete. The only time it doesn’t is if you were never even expected to place and had the race/game of your life. Emily went in as a heavy favourite and the rest of our swimmers had large expectations placed on them as well. Yes you intellectually know that coming 2nd is a great achievement but it’s still not first. You sit there and replay the entire event over and over in your mind imagining how you could’ve won and focussing on what you think you did wrong.
That being said, I think those on deck interviews after swimming suck arse. Even in tennis Grand Slams the person who loses has time to have a cry in their towel and compose themselves, listen to speeches, etc before they are interviewed. Jumping on someone when they’re out of breath and haven’t had time to process anything seems unnecessarily cruel and voyeuristic to me.
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Exactly.
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I don’t think it helps that Nine’s coverage is so swimming-centric. You’d think that was the only sport being contested. If the swimmers knew we were being subjected to every heat ad nauseum they’d probably be even more stressed!
Without actively seeking out news bulletins/articles, I have no idea what anyone else is doing at the Olympics, but I’ve heard about Magnussen, Rice, Seebohm et al on constant rotation. Oh yeah, and Zara.
Maybe Nine should ease up on the swimming and televise a few other sports where we don’t traditionally dominate… we might unearth a few winners (either ‘medalled’ or otherwise!
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Right now, during the Olympics, the free-to-air Olympic broadcaster Channel 9 and it’s poor cousin Gem are screening – DAYS OF OUR LIVES and ELLEN. What is going on? Is their no one on the graveyard shift to show anything from the games? That is the fail right there.
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get foxtel asap
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If Foxtel wasnt such a rip off I think many of us would.
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I’ve been watching the Olympics online on vipbox,tv which has live streaming of most of my favourite sports. Usually using British commentary which is so much better than Ch9. And it’s free. My adblocker stops the pop-ups too.
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Oops, make the comma in that URL a dot…
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I am appalled at the negative reaction from the media towards our athletes, in particular the swimmers. They have spent their lives training for these events, doing their best for their country. They race to win, and if they don’t win gold, not only do they face self-disappointment. they are getting hammered by media. Its ridiculous. The amount of criticism that Magnessun, Jones and Rice have taken is absurd. They are OUR Olympians. Regardless of how they go at the OLYMPICS they should be celebrated, not torn down for not winning. The questions they have had to face after “losing” are unnecessary & unsportsmanlike. They have high expectations of themselves and they train to win, and when/if they don’t the first question thrown at them 20 seconds after they get out of the pool is “why did you fail” “what a disappointing swim” “what went wrong”. Come on Australia. Get behind your athletes. Of course they are going to be disappointed with themselves when all the media do is tear them down.
And don’t even get me started on the fat calling of Liesel Jones!!!
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They are world class competitors who aim for the best, of course they will have some disappointment! Both are sporting champions though with plenty of remarkable achievements to their names.
Both will probably be proud of themselves when they look back.
Sometimes when you have that competitive spirit, emotions are raw for a while.
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Does anyone else find it ironic that the whingiest Olympics ever are being held in England? That whole whingeing Pom thing is rubbing off.
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As an Australian who lived in the UK for 7 years I found that the only whingeing I ever heard was that of Australians… oh it’s too cold, oh it’s so grey, oh it’s so expensive to fly to Spain, oh the tube only ever comes every 4 minutes, oh gee the shops on Sunday don’t open until 12noon on a Sunday, oh the exchange rate isn’t as good as it used to be… The whole whingeing Pom thing you talk about – well I never experienced it. Stiff upper lip maybe, but whingeing no. (I also married an Englishman and have been travelling back and forth since moving back to Australia so I have met a lot of English people, they are some of the warmest, intelligent, fun and creative people I have ever met… just not whingeing).
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What she said
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Thank you Frankie Rose! I’m a Brit who spent several years in London working for a company which employed mainly Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans. Made some great mates among them but never heard so much whinging in my life (weather, exchange rate, transport, food etc). Of course Brits ‘talk’ about such things, and especially the weather – don’t ask me why we’re so obsessed, but I don’t think we whinge about it, it’s more like resigned acceptance that it’s always going to be cr*p! The Brits I know here in Australia are pinching them(our)selves about being so lucky to be here while our rellies back home are expecting to lose their jobs at any moment. The only whinging I ever hear is from Aussies about Brits.
As for the athletes, perhaps it’s a generation thing – someone else mentioned the ‘everyone gets a prize’ mentality – perhaps we’re not teaching Gen Ys how to come second without throwing a strop.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that yet again the Australian media has made a big deal of the GB / Aus ‘rivalry’. Guess what – people back home don’t care about that. They care more about how GB fares against the favourites in each particular sport – for instance, GB v USA v Jamaica in sprinting, GB v Kenya and other African nations in the long distance running, and yes, GB v Aus in the pool. Regarding the medal tally, where Australia is in relation to us is not of any interest, we just want to be as high as possible (and yes, disappointing so far, but it seems to me everyone’s just enjoying the experience of being the hosts and pride in the visitors enjoying it). Any rivalry between us is stoked by Australian media!
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‘where Australia is in relation to us is not of any interest..’
Unless it’s cricket or rugby!
Boy did I cop it from all corners when I was in London – and I don’t even follow these sports!
True about the whinging though – I was the biggest whinger of all my (mainly English) friends. Good Aussie whinging!
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And didn’t Colin do well in the judo! One of the lower ranked judoka [if being in the top 30 is not good enough] and being a giant slayer on the day, beating the world champion and only being beaten by the eventual gold medallist. Now that was a great result. He may not have won a medal but he certainly deserved one. I just wish the Aussie media was recognising these kind of efforts.
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I live in the US, and it’s usually the Australians who are the loudest and the most rude. I’ve had several American friends tell me of them having been scolded by Australians. What happened? The Australian/s forgot to tell their bank they were going overseas, they go and order some dinner and when it’s time to pay their card doesn’t process because the bank thinks their card has been stolen. So they start blaming my waitress friend and start implying the whole ‘stupid Americans’ thing in front of her. I’ve heard the same story from a few customer service friends. Australians really are awful whingers and travelers. My mum’s friend came here to the US and we were shocked at how she treated people here, like Americans are all idiots. After living here a year more, I saw it from other Aussie travelers, too. It’s a shame. They don’t represent everyone, but in my experience, and I live in a place where many, many Aussies come to visit, I’ve seen way more arrogance and rudeness than I have politeness and humility from Australian travelers.
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You are probably taking about an age-related demographic rather than a nationality here AJS. Young people travelling with their mates are usually not the most congenial guests. Yobs are the same everywhere.
As for your individual examples of your mum’s friend etc – well we all have experienced that of people. I don’t think you can extrapolate your personal findings across a whole nationality to generalise. I would find it hard to believe the average, mature Australian is any more arrogant or rude than any other nationality, frankly.
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What a ridiculous thing to say, blaming the host country for our athletes behaviour? Ridiculous. I am a very proud Australian who has lived in the UK for over 10 years, with my lovely English husband and two gorgeous English children. I am of course supporting our athletes all the way but think that a few of them could learn from the british athletes who behave impeccably whether or not they win or lose.
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Well you can hardly say the GB athletes ‘behave impeccably’ as a blanket statement Dy, particularly after that incident on day one, where Mark Cavendish and crew at team GB blamed their failure to win on the lazy Australians and others in the group for not helping them in the race!
Sportsmanlike behaviour is an individual rather than a national attribute.
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Fair play, Cavendish behaved like a prick. I just think the ‘whinging pom’ thing is mean and outdated, and I’m very protective of my immediate family who really aren’t whingy! x
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Oh well that’s fair enough, I approve of almost any outrageous statement if it’s for family loyalty.
)
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Oh lighten up, I’m not blaming the host country for anything, just poking a bit of fun at adage that has been around for ages. That of the “whingeing Pom”. Meant with a touch of light-hearted humour. For the record I was born in Leeds & have lived in Australia since I was 9, and my in-laws are English too!
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A couple of years ago I worked in the media scrum at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. For the athletes to get back to their area they had to walk through about a 50m worth of media wanting to talk to them – which is great if achieved what you’ve wanted, but so difficult if you haven’t.
Honestly, I just think it’s too much to expect the athletes to come straight out of their event and immediately have to front the media. Emotions are just too raw. Give them some time to catch their breath, then ask questions.
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This is a fabulous article that I think epitomises the Olympic spirit…
http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/news-london-2012/the-aussie-battler-who-broke-british-hearts-20120801-23di1.html
He was ranked 40th and came 6th. Not a podium finish, we won’t hear much about him, he won’t get a sponsorship deal, and he doesn’t have a medal to take home. But he was STOKED for the result.
This is different to Seabohm (sp?), because she was HEAVY favourite, and didn’t win…
But what I want to know is.. where is Eddy the Eel? Where are the people that aren’t getting a medal.. but still achieving? Where are the FEEL GOOD stories. They are what the Olympics is about….
We are so focussed, not even just on medals, but on GOLD medals… we are missing the whole point of the games.
Did you know the IOC doesn’t have an official medal tally? Because, whilst you compete for your nation, you are an athlete of the world. A nation’s medal count is irrelevant.
All we ask, is, as an athlete, you do your best. And when you think about it, that’s still a bloody big ask…
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Google Nigerian Rower – fantastic footage/story of a rower from Nigeria who has a similar story to Eric the Eel.
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I loved watching him race! to know that he didnt qualify for the olympics twice but still didnt give up letting him come 6th at the olympics! Amazing!!!
Go Kynan!
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Maybe the media are just being factual. We did much much better in swimming in Sydney, Athens and Beijing. It is actually genuinely hard to find a good spin to put on our pool performances in London.
Genuine questions will need to be asked by the media at the conclusion of the swimming if things don’t really pick up. We had such high hopes and have fallen so short of them. That is worth reporting on and discussing, in as nice a way as possible. A lot of (public) money goes into swimming and the return has been low this Olympics, so far.
I think we shouldn’t call individual athletes failures and silver is certainly worth celebrating, but something is not going right for the swim team and let’s not be wussbags and ignore the obvious. I wonder if there was no critical scrutiny if the media would be accused of blind patriotism in the face of obviously struggling team.
There is enormous pressure on our athletes and I feel for them but given our previous stellar olympics showings in the pool the media might have legitimate query here.
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I agree somethings not quite right. the fact is asking a swimmer about a past performance failure just before a second race is a blatant lack of emotional intelligence. There is a time and a place and that is not on pool deck.
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I wonder how much banning sleeping tablets has helped things….
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Great post – getting to the Olympics is a huge achievement – is it not enough for athletes to be satisfied at that?
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I felt awful for Emily when I saw the footage of her crying. All I took from her reaction was that she felt that she was a disappointment to her family, coach, teammates, and fans.
I’m really surprised that people thought her reaction was that of a sore loser. To me, it was clearly borne from feeling like she hadn’t measured up to expectations.
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I just feel like these athletes arent prepared mentally and emotionally for the journey they will take during an Olympic meet. Perhaps more could be done with our former swimmers preparing these young athletes mentally for such a big event and to help them be more resilient.
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I think it’s time for Seabohm to stop crying over her silver medal. It must be hard for those who came in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th etc to see, especially seeing its just a few hundredths of a second between them. Reminds me of the good ol’ days where the kids who didn’t get the prize in pass-the-parcel cried. And now there’s a prize between every layer so no one cries.
And while I do agree that the media has been an issue, I think it also serves as a reminder for the athletes to rethink the social media they engage in of their own volition too. There’s no point blaming the media for the swims. The athletes didn’t swim fast enough on the day. That’s not Twitter’s fault. It was never a one horse race and both our media and our swimmers should remember this.
And as for Rice, she’s been considering retirement for a while. Her shoulder is stuffed. This was not a direct result of her Olympics results.
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That’s a bit harsh.
I think someone who has worked their absolute guts out for years to achieve something and just misses out has every right to feel disappointed, especially immediately after the race.
That’s not the same as not winning in a game of chance.
The thing that makes me saddest is that they feel they’ve LET EVERYONE ELSE DOWN. They haven’t.
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I think they need to remember that if they have done their best thats all anyone expects and they should be proud of themselves.
Crying because you dont win, whether you’re 25 at the Olympics or 5 at the school carnival isnt cool. It just means you’re a bad sport and a spoilt brat.
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Ouch!
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Missing the point, aren’t you?
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Not at all. As a parent watching the way some of these disappointed Gen Y athletes have been behaving is a great lesson in what not to do with my own kids.
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Sorry, you have no idea what you’re talking about. I trained at elite level in sport as a teenager. This meant 15 training sessions per week. Days started at 3:30am and I’d go straight to school from morning training, straight to training after school and got home about 9:30pm. At 13 I was selected to go to world championships to compete in under 16s div, at 15 the Australian olympic coach watched me compete and remarked at my textbook perfect technique. I put everything I had into my training and developed a strong reputation. When your sport takes all of your time, and people tell you how much they expect of you, failure to meet expectation is devastating. I had once gone into a final having the best result in the semis. This put me in the most favourable position for the finals .. Until the weather conditions suddenly changed, rendering it the worst position. I finished fourth. I cried for at least 30mins. Though luckily it was just national competition so I could hide it and retain my sportsmanship dignity. The higher the competition, the less chances you have to be in it. Olympics come once in 4years.. Defeat would feel like a huge setback
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Sure, I havent competed at that level, but somewhere along the way I think the spirit of competition and resilience has been lost amongst our mostly early 20′s athletes. Somebody has to win and that means that a lot of other people come second, third and even last.
I heard a comentator this morning say that James Magnussen isnt used to not winning. Well, in my book, someone who throws a wobbly or storms off in a bad mood when they dont get what they’re used to or get their own way needs a firmer grip on reality.
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I don’t think it’s fair to say that Emily “threw a wobbly” — it’s not like she was screaming “that bitch didn’t deserve to win”. She was upset, it was literally the heat of the moment, and imagine all that pressure, from yourself and your peers, to win. I expect (I hope) now she’s feeling a bit better and is proud of herself.
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This^^^.
Thank you Sophie, this is what I was trying to say on a post last night regarding Emilys reaction to her silver medal but having never been an athlete I wasn’t able to articulate it as well as you. so thank you. I agree with you whole-heartedly, my thoughts would be that an elite athlete doesnt put all that dedication into their sport to come home with silver, I understand her immediate reaction and don’t blame her for feeling so crushed.
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I thought it was absolutely disgusting the way in which Emily Seebohm carried on after ‘only’ winning a silver medal at the OLYMPICS. How many people can say they have had the opportunity to compete at the Olympics, let alone qualify for a final and walk away with a medal. Yes, the media has put huge amounts of pressure, but the way Seebohm reacted was more or less the behavior of a sore loser, much like the attitude of our AFL stars.
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There are a lot of things I find “absolutely disgusting”, but I think it’s a bit strong to say that about Emily’s reaction.
I was certainly surprised by her tears because I think a silver medal is still awesome – but then I remembered when I got my uni marks back a few weeks ago and I started crying because I was one mark off a distinction.
A high credit is still great but I REALLY wanted that distinction and the fact that it was only one mark made it that much harder to accept – I was so CLOSE!
It’s not a great comparison but it made me understand why Emily might have been so upset – especially after everything she has been through to get to this level, and all the expectation and pressure that has been placed on her shoulders.
Besides, everyone needs a bit of a cry sometimes. I don’t necessarily think it made her a sore loser.
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Yes, but she needed to consider the others around her. I’m not saying she did, but she could have made the Bronze qualifier feel really pathetic. If a silvers ‘bad’ then what’s a bronze. And to the younger athletes, who are so excited to just be there, who were so close yet so far from getting a medal, and she acts the way she does. I know everyone has bad swims, we have an athlete in the family. However, there is way in which you compose yourself around your competitors and your team, Emily’s behavior was not a representation of the good sportsmanship and pick yourself up and get on with it attitude that all these countries at the Olympics see us as.
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I read/heard something once about how somone had analysed podium photos from the Olympics. Gold medal winers look the happiest (no surprise), but apparently bronze medal winners tend to ‘look happier’ than silver. The theory is that bronze is thinking ‘Yay! I almost missed out on a medal’ but silver is likely ‘Pooh, I just missed out on gold’.
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I once heard someone say that coming second means you are the first of the losers… which probably explains the faces of the silver medal losers.
I am not saying that coming second in anything is bad, I’m just relaying something I once heard…
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Totally agree with that, I got into my postgrad degree last year but didn’t get a scholarship, when I opened the letter I had a bit of a cry for ten minutes but then hey ho, I’m still at uni!
Going straight from the pool to the press would be very hard, I’m just glad no one was home when I got my acceptance letter, they would have thought I was a spoiled brat because I needed some time to be sad for what I didn’t get before I could be happy for what I did get! Not a great comparison, as you said, but it works.
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She didnt cry because she lost. She is proud of her silver medal, she simply felt like she had let people down. she is 20 years old and im sure she learnt so so very much this week.
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I didnt say she cried because she lost, i kmow she was disappointed but I’m just saying, she needs a real reality check. Only a small select few get to say they’ve won a medal at the Olympics, especially silver. Silver or even bronze is nothing to cry about.
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I have a feeling she might have cried even if she won. It is just as likely a reaction to being so overwhelmed by the whole deal as a reaction to coming second.
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As I said before I think it’s harsh to be so hard on someone who has literally just jumped out of the pool. I agree with Natalia – sometimes it’s that feeling of being “so close” and you just miss out that’s so devastating. She’s a young girl on a huge stage and I feel for her.
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The Australian athletes should be very proud of themselves to be at the Olympic Games..after all the gruelling training, they are there competing against the best in the world. Most athletes would kill to be in their shoes..to be part of the Australian Olympic Team. Who cares if you come first or last..enjoy the ride as to most it never happens! The public is proud of what you have achieved.
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Does anyone else remember when Leisl Jones cried about getting silver somewhere – Athens? – and was roundly criticised for forgetting the spirit of the Olympics?
Now it seems that we expect athletes to beat themselves up if they fail to excel on the day. Terrible model for our kids watching. I guess having a go and being part of it just don’t cut it when the stakes are so high (money etc) and the rest of life has had to go by the by just to get there.
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I think we have to be realistic. These people make huge sacrifices to devote their life to their sport of choice. They are young and obviously ill-prepared for what has been a few days of near-misses. I wonder what sort of pressure Emily’s support group placed on her to ‘go for gold’? That was the message for me… I would have hated to hear my daughter say that she let me down by only winning a Silver Olympic medal.
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” I would have hated to hear my daughter say that she let me down by only winning a Silver Olympic medal.”
My thoughts exactly. It suggests some self-loathing and disproportion which I would find quite alarming.
Mind you, if any of my children were to be talented and single-minded enough to pursue excellence in a particular area, I would be on high alert for that kind of stuff! Just doesn’t sit well with me at all.
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I agree. My ex was a gymnast, competed for England schoolboys and twice lost out on major competitions (including the Olympics, by one place) because of injury. He was forced to retire at 17 and by the time we got together he was nearly 30 and his back was a mess. At one point he aggravated an old injury and was told he was millimetres from damaging his spinal cord and ending up in a wheelchair. It broke my heart to hear his father tell me that if only he’d tried harder he’d have got to the Olympics. I told him straight I hoped his son would never hear him say that. Any harder and he would be in a wheelchair by now.
My ex got me watching gymnastics and I really admire the strength, talent and skill, but my daughter will go into it over my dead body!
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Totally agree. I also think I heard her say “I felt much better after my parents told me they still loved me” WTF??? Totally distorted thinking.
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