Since When is a Silver or Bronze Medal Considered a Failure...?

I will preface this entry by saying I’ve watched next to zero “live” Olympics coverage from South Korea. One of the most frustrating things about the 2018 Olympics is obviously the time zone difference, especially when you think you’re watching something live but turns out to have been airing as tape delay. I don’t know how people watched the Lake Placid Olympics of 1980, but imagine finding out in some parts of the world a full day later the result of the ‘Miracle on Ice’? Around the same era, imagine reading actual stats and results in the newspaper even the next morning? Kids today have absolutely no idea how easy they have it, and I can admit I’m addicted to this thing called Twitter, but I must digress.

More onto the point of the blog, I need to ask a simple question: Since when is a medal that isn’t gold considered a failure?

Obviously there are instances in which certain countries during certain events have higher expectations than others, and the actual effort may result in being considered a failure (think USA basketball, Canadian curling, USA gymnastics, etc.) but to receive a medal at an event which features the most gifted and physically fit athletes in the entire world and not so much toss it into the stands, that really pisses me off. Sorry for being so honest.

Example A, Lindsey Vonn’s father. It is without question in my mind that Vonn is the greatest skier I’ve ever seen. My father can list a handful of other skiers who may be better suited for this consideration, but he’s watched much more skiing than I and there isn’t anyone more exciting or notorious than Vonn in my eyes. It isn’t any secret that she is near the end of the line as far as Olympic competition goes (she indeed announced this would be her last Olympics) but reading this report about how her father wasn’t impressed with her skiing which led to a bronze medal and a record for oldest Olympic skier to receive a medal, what the hell is she supposed to do? “Just little, little spots,” he added. “Just not quite risking enough. Not straightening the line out, just the ski was little … not quite carving in some places like it should have.” DUDE?! Really?!


Example 2, the Canadian women’s hockey team. The defending gold medalists from Sochi were the obvious favorites to repeat as champions, but team USA has always said they aren’t far off to retain the top spot for the first time since Nagano in 1998. This is one of those rare examples where I can see the expectations running so highly for a team that anything less than gold would be a disappointment. Yet once again, it was filmed all last night that players couldn’t care less about receiving a silver medal in Olympic competition. Not very polite, eh?

Finally, Example D which doesn’t relate to the Olympics, but rather the World Junior Classic played in January between Canada and Sweden. The Swedish, who I always thought were very sincere and a real people, showed "captain" Lias Andersson receiving a silver medal and shortly thereafter tossing into the Buffalo crowd for a lucky fan. Captain you say? Well du suger, mis amigo.


The point of this blog is simple: if I were skilled enough to participate in Olympic competition, I would damn well perform my hardest and be proud that I was even given a plane ticket. I’ll revert back to my idol and long lost best friend Rickie Fowler when he participated at the Rio games when nobody else would. He didn’t medal, but guess what? He came away with a sick ass tattoo and ultimately met fellow Olympian and current girlfriend Allison Stokke. People forget she almost ran be over at an In-N-Out parking lot in Scottsdale two weeks ago, but again I digress. Get over yourselves and be proud of what you accomplished, no one else will do it for you.