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The American sprint legend has urged athletes who missed out on gold but won other medals at the Paris Olympics to be content with what they won since it is still ‘greatness.’
American sprint great Michael Johnson has advised athletes who have won silver or bronze medals at the Paris Olympics to be grateful rather than feeling disappointed.
There have been moments of disappointment among athletes at the Olympics with Johnson’s American compatriot Noah Lyles the biggest victim after he lost the 200m final to Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.
Lyles was so sure of winning the 200m that he taunted his rivals before the race but could only manage bronze when the race was finally run and he left the stadium disappointed and on a wheelchair before later saying he was suffering from COVID-19 to exit the competition.
There was also a feeling of disappointment in another American Sha’Carri Richardson after missing a gold medal in the women’s 100m which went to St Lucian Julien Alfred as she settled for silver while Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon thought she had won gold in the women’s 5,000m before Beatrice Chebet stunned her to claim the major prize.
Johnson is of the opinion that any medal at the Olympics is a great treasure which the athletes should happily embrace.
“Winning Olympic medals is hard. Even if you were favorite for gold and end up with silver or bronze it was hard. That’s greatness. Maybe not greatest on the day, but that’s greatness,” Johnson said via a social media post.
The Paris Olympics has witnessed fierce competition, especially in track and field, where some of the runners who were deemed favoutite ended up either winning silver or bronze or missed out on a medal completely.
Besides the aforementioned, Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen was also among the big losers in Paris after failing to even get on the podium in the men’s 1,500m after coming into the race as hot favourite and defending champion.
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