Olympic Gold Standard: If You're Not First, You Might As Well Be Last

Is it possible to say an athlete in the Olympics did well without winning the gold? Is it possible for an Olympian to feel accomplished if he finished behind three other sprinters?

I know he's a douche - look at that grill, but I still think Lochte (and others) get too harsh of treatment when they don't win gold medals. Part of it is their fault, but part of it is our unreasonable expectations as fans.

So much is made (by media and athletes alike) about winning the gold that we start to think that anyone who fails in this pursuit is a failure.

The group of American athletes that comes to mind includes Ryan Lochte (swimmer), Lolo Jones (sprinter) and Tyson Gay (sprinter), although the latter probably had a rough idea that he, along with the rest of the competitors, were competing for second before the race began. That's what the presence of Usain Bolt will do.

What could prompt people, especially those of us who can't walk to the fridge 10 meters away without being out of breath, to say that folks who finish out of the gold position are somehow disappointments? Here's a few reasons I could come up with:

Pre-Olympics Marketing

Critique him for his douche look, not his 2nd/3rd place finishes.

Before the Olympics began, who were some of the most talked-about athletes on the American side? Who was featured on magazine covers, advertisements and appeared on talk-shows in hopes of giving themselves more visibility to the public and future potential sponsors?

Before the 2012 Olympics, I bet most of us had failed to hear who Lochte and Jones were. There's a chance you may have heard of Lochte, who set a world record in the backstroke in Beijing 2008 and also participated in three medal-winning relay teams at that Games. There's a good chance the only guy you remember from the 2008 team is Phelps, and understandably so. That's what being the best at your sport will do.

She's compared to Kournikova, but Lolo has shown her talents more.

Lolo also competed in 2008, finishing 7th in the 100m hurdles. Her name has risen quite a bit since then, posing semi-nude on an ESPN magazine cover, and on the heels of Tebowmania, recently stated in an interview that she is the 30 year old virgin.

Both Lolo and Lochte marketed themselves well before the Olympics. This made them more recognizable and fresh in mind to American viewers, which at the same time raised their expectations. It also made them more vulnerable to criticism should they not live up to the high expectations that media (and even the athletes themselves) have put on them. Out of the reasons for the backlash when there's no gold, I find this marketing to be the biggest problem. When the athletes talk the talk before they walk the walk (bad cliche alert) and then their walk doesn't match the talk, then the bloodhounds among us come out and say these athletes choked.

I can't blame these athletes for marketing themselves as much as they do, especially in sports that are only mainstream for 2 out of every 208 weeks. It's their time to maximize their wealth, and success in the events they are competing in are not guaranteed by any means (See: Dan vs. Dave commercials in 1992). It's amazing that Michael Phelps was able to stay in the marketing spotlight long after Athens, thanks to his endorsement with Subway. Although it did help that he won all those gold medals in 2008 - I doubt Subway commits to a long-term campaign to a guy who doesn't win any golds, especially with swimming out of season anytime outside of the Olympics. If you don't win at the Olympics, your overall marketing wealth goes down, so the pre-Olympic marketing makes perfect sense.

We Expect To Be The Best

Whether it comes to a 100m backstroke in the pool or a competitive hot-dog eating contest, We America expect and demand victory. I'm sure other countries (such as China) have similar expectations with just about every event that they enter, but for the purposes of this blog, I'll stick with the Amurrrrican view point.

Ok, we get it. You're a giant douche.

When we see one of our own fail to win gold, we look at it as a failure. Ryan Lochte may have won five medals in the six events he participated in, but only won two golds, neither of which occurred in an individual event. Perhaps he set the bar high for himself with previous performance, perhaps it had something to do with the way he was marketed beforehand, thus raising his expectations. Most folks would be thrilled to have won 5 medals of any color, but I've read a lot of stories saying his Olympics was a disappointment.

On the other end, Lolo Jones improved on her showing in the last Games but still finished one out of the medal, losing to teammates Dawn Harper (silver) and Kellie Wells (bronze) in the process. Harper and Wells seemed to take an unusual pride in besting Jones despite neither of them winning gold in the event.. They have basically admitted that they were jealous of all the attention that Jones has received. I've even heard of a Lolo comparison to Anna Kournikova - all looks, no talent.

She finished fourth IN THE WORLD in the 100m women's hurdles. That's not a lack of talent. It's actually immense talent that happened to be facing a few others whose talents shined a little more on this particular day at this particular race. Since she didn't win gold, people actually thinks she was a over-hyped marketing campaign. After all, they don't put fourth place people on Wheaties boxes.

Disappointed, but being the 4th best in the world at something ain't that bad.

It's this expectation to win that prevents both the athlete and the fan from getting to enjoy an excellent athlete at his or her craft against the world's best. Have you seen some of these athletes after they actually do accomplish their goal of winning gold? Sure, there's the occasional Gabby Douglas, who hasn't been able to stop smiling since winning the gold in the individual gymnastics competition. Overall though, not enough people seem to enjoy winning the gold - like it's an expected, God-given occurrence.

Underrate Others' Athletes, Overrate Our Own

Going along with expecting our athletes to be the best, in many cases, many America supporters actually do believe that our athletes are the best. While the number of medals we win at each Olympics lends some support to this belief, there are many times where we underestimate our opponent, or at the very least, we (the fan) ignore him or her.

In these sports where our top-ranked athletes like Lochte are expected to win, there's almost always one or two athletes from other counties that have a chance at the gold. When Lochte didn't win the gold in any of his individual events, we were quick to say he choked (or pulled a LeBron circa 2011). I say, we just under-estimate our opponents too often. I'd say some of this under-estimation is the slant of news that we get - heavy dose of American athletes, with very few non-Americans getting the spotlight on the Olympic coverage on NBC and its affiliates.

It's understandable that NBC would do this - as with everything in life, we like to root for our own: our own country, our own team, our own family, etc. Coverage that balanced American athletes with international athletes would not be as well-received and would lose NBC some ratings. We'd rather see an average (by Olympic standards) American athlete compete than the international equivalent or even just slightly better.

How often do you watch the Olympics where they will show the anthem of America when they win the gold? Now how often do you see them play the Canadian or Chinese national anthem? Would we even recognize their national anthems?

Maybe you like holding USA to a higher standard when it comes to the Olympics, and I'm fine with that. Just don't think it's gonna be easy, and don't think we're going to win every event we compete in. And when we lose, we should try showing a little class to these athletes and respect their skill and effort as well as the skill and effort of our opponents.