Olympic Spirit - Who REALLY has it?

Loving this picture that I saw on our Throng New Zealand site. How true it is. While countries celebrate their fantastic effort at being the best in the world and making it to the most prestigious sporting event on the planet, our athletes have been described by our media and our athletes themselves as “failures.”

As the Throng NZ site says “While the Australian swimmers shed tears over failing to stand at the top of the podium, the New Zealand media, and kiwis in general, have been celebrating the fact that we got to stand on one at all.”

Our athletes, like it or not are role models and this display of crying and dissapointment needs to stop. They all need to take a leaf out of Leisel Jones book and be proud of the fact that you made it there (she came 5th in her race), not blame social media (she was heavily bombarded about her weight and NEVER used it as an excuse) and just represent your country and yourself with pride.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003368455102 Courtney Lewdon

    I agree, New Zealand are so humble.

    I too have been shocked at some of their reactions; but I do think deep down, they are happy with their achievements. I think with all the hype surrounding their own journeys to get to the olympics, they just get overwhelmed.

    I’m not surprised Leisel Jones didn’t blame social media for her weight, because I can’t see anyone doing that. But I can see how the added pressure to do better with everyone telling you ‘you’re a shoe in for gold’ could affect your overall game for the worse. But I think it should be that athletes should avoid social media during the duration of the Olympics.

  • ablivi

    No – Australian’s have over large egos and need to realise they are part of a international forum and take pride. At the moment it seems that their own hype gave them false confidence – and are therefore let down. I am talking about pride, representing your nation and the joy. Some of these people have probably never been out of their own country! Aussie athletes need to take note and be more humble, grateful and tactful.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003368455102 Courtney Lewdon

    I think we take a lot of pride in what we do. And if the hype let them down, then that’s not their fault. Australian’s believe in their athletes. We don’t disown them when they lose, or when they get bronze or silver. But before the game, we do like to pump up our athletes with messages of confidence (and we’re not the only country that does that). It’s not ‘false’ confidence; the reason our Olympians can make it to finals of events is because they are good at what they do, so they have a right to be confident. Having confidence won’t necessarily mean they will win; and they know that; but if they don’t win, it doesn’t mean their confidence was ‘false’.
    I’m not convinced Emily Seebohm’s reaction is solely to do with coming second, instead of coming first; I think there’s a lot more going on than that. But I think its great she cares so much about doing well for her country. She is still proud of her efforts, absolutely; but after four years of training, I’m not surprised she’s emotional about it.
    And really, every other Australian medallist has been very happy to have stood on the podium- so overall, this whole notion that we’re not ‘grateful for what we get’ is rubbish.
    But again; if hype is the reason Emily didn’t do as well as she wanted; maybe she should have stayed off twitter.

  • ablivi

    Don’t know what news you get, try watching and see how the commentators are reacting to our worst Olympics since 1976.