There have been a shit ton of threads this year bitching about peoples reactions to losing in the big competitions and I am getting sick of it.
People need to stop expecting skiers to be fucking amped when they lose competitions. There is a big difference between being disappointed and being a bad sport. All that is expected in most sports to be considered a gracious loser is to not publicly bitch about the results and at most a quick congratulations/ acknowledgement of what the winner did well. When Roger Federer openly wept a few years ago after losing to Nadal in the finals of a grand slam, people didn't think that he was a bad sport, just exhausted and disappointed.
For some reason in however, in snow sports we are all supposed to have this bro-ed out image where it doesn't matter who wins or loses. I'm sorry, but that is retarded. These guys work all year to do well at the big competitions and they have a right to be annoyed when they don't perform up to their own expectations or are judged poorly.
There are usually two reactions that you see at competitions when people don't get first. There are those that didn't expect to do as well as they did, so they are still happy, and those that were hoping to do better so they are disappointed. So often in snow sports, I see people who clearly fall into the latter group but they act like they are super excited anyway. To me however, that isn't a show of good sportsmanship, it just seems false.
These are competitions, not exhibitions. If people weren't passionate about trying to win, they would be incredibly boring to watch. So, be glad that athletes try as hard as they can and don't fault them for that very thing that makes competitions a good show. After all, the only reason that the results matter in the first place is that the skiing public (you), whether or not you admit it, deifies these winners. The athletes care about winning because you do.
