Then they can have the gold so no need for the silver anyway.
Throwing away your silver medal
- Thread starter Sky1981
- Start date
that certainly would add an extra gladiatorial element and shower even more praise upon the victor. the victor, decorated in gold, the losers, on their knees in front of them, sobbing loudly. will the glorious winner’s thumb turn skyward and offer some sweet succour or toward the ground, eternally damning them as precious metalless losers?
Are you trolling? Or can you honestly not see the difference between celebrating winning a tough match to get to a final vs being gutted having lost that final on penalties. At the time, that second place medal is almost like kicking you when you're down, a token to remind you that you lost in the biggest match of your life.
It’s grandstanding for the cameras (and those watching from home) and that’s about it.
‘Look how much they care’
Respect your medal, respect the person who gave it to you and remember how lucky you are to be in such a marvellous position. Don’t be a bellend. And yes, be gutted you didn’t win. There’s a way of doing that, though.
‘Look how much they care’
Respect your medal, respect the person who gave it to you and remember how lucky you are to be in such a marvellous position. Don’t be a bellend. And yes, be gutted you didn’t win. There’s a way of doing that, though.
Collectivism vs Individualism. A lot went into the event and ceremony. Be respectful of people's efforts.
My take is that it's their medal, they can do what they want with it. For all I care they could use it to wipe their respective bottoms in front of the camera, that would honestly make for great viewing.
On a more serious note, I don't think I've even seen any of this at the Olympics. I suppose it's more of a football thing.
On a more serious note, I don't think I've even seen any of this at the Olympics. I suppose it's more of a football thing.
Everybody disappointed at losing a final. Not everybody throw their medal.
Considering it's england best achivement since 66. Would be funny if they flop in the world cup. This gonna haunt them.
I still think it's obnoxious since it's a great start for the kids. You can make a case if it's the spain golden generation doing this
Is this thread just another England bashing one? It looks like you're just trolling, but just in case you aren't here's one last attempt to reason with you.
You say it's obnoxious given that the team is young, but that's precisely why it's understandable - they've never felt the pain of losing in the final of a major international tournament, especially on penalties. To be one kick away from winning is heartbreaking, and you're expecting players to be over that within 5/10 minutes in order to cherish a medal that represents losing in the biggest match of their lives.
It's just such a ridiculous thing to make fuss out of, when it's perfectly understandable to anyone who's had an objectively good achievement feel subjectively awful at the time.
Imagine, that's the second time in the history of English football that the national team even made it to a final. The arrogance of those players that second place isn't good enough. It's a slap in the face of every team that gave their all just to participate. Our lads did it at the Europa League too didn't they. Disrespectful as feck. Cavani was the only one that showed some class. Even our most successful teams were never that arrogant.
Brazil didn’t think it was ridiculous when they lost to bitter rivals Argentina..
I l’ve always said you’ll find a lot more silver medals found lying around a gym after a wrestling tournament than bronze ones. If your placement is an odd number, you won your last match. Nothing like that sting of defeat in the finals to make you do something dumb and throw your silver away.
Elite sports participants don't go out and train for a large proportion of their career to become the first losers. Why should they celebrate being second, when all they aim for is first? It defies logic to call them arrogant.
Brazil not removing their medals doesn't mean they don't think it's ridiculous to call other players "obnoxious" if they do.
That's exactly the point of this, people react differently to failure, and expecting everyone to be objective about an achievement having just lost the biggest match of their lives is ridiculous. There's nothing obnoxious about not wanting to hang a reminder that you lost around your neck - in the future I'm sure most of the players that took them off will remember the achievement fondly (and the medal that came with it).
They might think other players are obnoxious to take the silver medal off how do you know?
No they should respect the competition and everyone that participated in it and give their all, doesn’t take much to show a little humility in the face of defeat.
I don't, but neither do you, and you stated as fact their thoughts in your previous post.
Anyway, that's a pointless rabbit hole. Back to the discussion at hand - you're acting like taking the medal off is an insult, or disrespectful, when it simply isn't.
They're already showing tons of humility - you might have a point if they didn't hang around for the medal proceedings, or lost their minds like Drogba vs Barcelona, but all they did was not wear a losers medal around their necks.
Genuinely I really can't see why you find it obnoxious, and I can only conclude that you've never been in a similar situation, and therefore can't empathise at all. Just try to imagine you're in the final of a competition you desperately wanted to win, lost in heart breaking fashion, and are then immediately handed a memento of that loss. It's perfectly natural not to want to wear that memento at that time.
Yeah I was a very good athlete at school and provincial schools was happy to accept gold, silver or bronze with pride because I could see how envious some of my classmates were at not being able to compete at all, would have been arrogant of me not to acknowledge that.
It is fact the Brazil players wore their medals and showed humility in the face of defeat.
I don’t think it’s natural at all the natural thing for an athlete is it acknowledge you lost and give congratulations to the winner.
We’ll agree to disagree on this I expect.
Who the feck threw away a silver medal??? 
Depends on the circumstances, but I don't fault anyone for doing it.
If you're playing a H2H final for gold, your silver medal is a loser's medal and you just lost gold, not won silver (e.g. England players). If you're in a competition and you get second place (e.g. athletics), you just got beaten fair and square. Even then I could still understand that the big favourite isn't happy with silver, but the Olympics medal ceremonies usually take place way after the event has ended, so the disappointment has settled in a bit better.
Immediately taking it off on stage at the Olympics is poor form imo but again, wouldn't fault anyone for doing it - everyone reacts differently to failures.
If you're playing a H2H final for gold, your silver medal is a loser's medal and you just lost gold, not won silver (e.g. England players). If you're in a competition and you get second place (e.g. athletics), you just got beaten fair and square. Even then I could still understand that the big favourite isn't happy with silver, but the Olympics medal ceremonies usually take place way after the event has ended, so the disappointment has settled in a bit better.
Immediately taking it off on stage at the Olympics is poor form imo but again, wouldn't fault anyone for doing it - everyone reacts differently to failures.
How is it disrespectful to anyone? You think the semi-finalists are sitting at home clutching their pearls over that? I think they look a bit petulant and silly, to be honest, but I don't see it as offensive in any way.
Doesn't really make sense though does it? In football generally you have to progress through a competition to play in a final. At the Olympics there are also plenty of sports where you also have to progress through a competition and end up in a H2H face off.
There may be differences in perception as to the prestige of winning a silver medal at the Olympic against losing in the final of a football competition but in essence they're exactly the same. It's the perception that is flawed.
Most of those England players that lost the Euro final will look back at it as one of the highlights of their careers in time and feel very proud of what they achieved. Same goes for the Olympians that remove medals or seem genuinely gutted with a silver in the immediate aftermath of the event.
Bollocks, you've had an underwhelming career in terms of trophies if that's the case. They can be proud and rightfully so, but a lost final is seldomly a highlight in a career. Could you imagine Rooney including the 09 and 11 finals or Gerrard the 07 final as highlights of their career? Feck no.
I bet Kane and company will name Euro 2020 as the biggest disappointment in their careers.
It's bordering on absurd that you directly associate wearing a silver medal with humility, and not wearing it with a lack of humility, or conflating removing a silver medal with not acknowledging the loss, or not congratulating the winner(s). They're completely separate things.
I've had runner up trophies before that I didn't want anything to do with at the time but grew to appreciate later. It didn't stop me from congratulating the winner, nor accepting that I'd lost.
I don't expect we'll agree either, but I'd suggest you open your mind to the possibility that other people won't always react the way you do, and it doesn't automatically make them rude/lesser/bad/obnoxious/wrong.
I don't think it is bollocks. I've seen the 1990 England World Cup semi finalists saying the exact opposite to what you claim. It's not just about the end result. It's about the whole experience of the international tournament. It's a life experience few ever get to live.
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I don't think there's a comparison to be made to lost Champions league finals in the career of highly successful players at club level. Rooney won 12 major honours at club level including the Champions League so obviously it isn't the same thing. Even so I think that Rooney would be proud of reaching 3 Champions League finals in his career.
Here is Rio on the 2011 season
"We have had a fantastic season this year," said Ferdinand.
"We are disappointed and this defeat leaves a bad taste in the mouth going into the summer but when you sit back and reflect on things we have had a top season.
"We reached the Champions League final again. We won the league. We reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. It has not been a bad season."
Just makes them a sore loser then I guess..
“It’s bordering on absurd”? But in your last post you were agreeing with me that it shows lack of humility, make up your mind.
I didn’t say anything about not congratulating the winner, I said an the natural thing to do is congratulate the winner and accept your medal. You’re twisting my words now to suit your opinion.
Nobody as far as I can tell.Who the feck threw away a silver medal???
The OP has referred to people throwing away their medals a few times. Perhaps I've missed something but it appears to me that all they've done it taken their medals off their necks.
@Sky1981 - Can you confirm if someone has thrown their medal away and who it was?
Like I said they are rightfully proud, and yes Rooney would be proud of reaching all three, but the highlight will be the 08 final, not the other two. Same for Rio - he names a lost final in the context of the entire season, getting to a final proves you've been doing great but the cherry on top is missing. I think most players would name a FA Cup or even League Cup as highlight of their career above a lost final in a more prestigious competition.
I also think it's way easier to accept defeat if you've already won some big stuff. I remember Henderson was one of the very few (or even the only one) who kept his medal on after the lost final.
Of course it's easier to accept if you've won big trophies.
When it comes to international tournaments because they are so infrequent and happen over a small period of time the chances of a player getting another shot of a final are not that great. Firstly the player needs to be fit for the tournament, secondly the player's form needs to have been good enough to make the squad (he may have become too old, had a poor season due to injuries or other external factors or been superceded by another player) and thirdly the player's team needs to make the final again. Point being that reaching an international final is not something to be sniffed and will be the highlight of many player's career.
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It's metal and heavy for the neck.
No need for anything but flowers and gratitude for participating
No need for anything but flowers and gratitude for participating
I never agreed that removing a runners up medal showed a lack of humility. What I said was the opposite, here:
Also you literally did mention not congratulating the winner, in fact you brought it up, after I said removing a medal is natural. Here's the quote:
Do you think it's somehow impossible to remove a medal and also congratulate the winner? They're completely unrelated, so I don't really know why you mentioned it.
Anyway look this is pointless, you have your opinion on it, and have a total lack of empathy for others that would act differently in that situation. To be frank, your sanctimonious and judgemental attitude towards this is far more obnoxious than anyone removing a medal that reminds them of a loss.
Because you said it was perfectly natural to not want to wear a medal, then I responded with the natural thing is to congratulate the winner and accept your medal. That you worked hard to get I’ll add.
And just right on time the sore loser reverts to form and starts throwing out insults, because I don’t agree with his opinion.
The classy thing to do is what Brazil done and accept your medal respect the competition and everyone involved.
If you were the same age now wouldn’t you always have been
The BBC and Eurosport keep going on about the 'minor medals' when talking about silver and bronze. I keep hearing it- did they always emphasise that they were minor medals or is it a new thing.
I can understand say Devon Loch not appreciating a silver or bronze, but for others it's obviously way beyond their wildest dreams.
I can understand say Devon Loch not appreciating a silver or bronze, but for others it's obviously way beyond their wildest dreams.
Not literally. But taking them off as a group on live telly is as throw away a gesture as it can get. They dont have to look happy. But taking it off as soon as it's given is a gesture. No doubt about it.
Who took the medal off their neck immediately?
I think you're over-reacting here. It's perfectly understandable after losing a
final you had expectations of winning in my view.
Jusr google it on YouTube. Most of them did.
Yes of course we were.
There's a huge spectrum between "Classy" and "Obnoxious". You seem to only see it in black and white; medal on = classy, medal off = obnoxious.
You're also suggesting there's only one natural thing to do after losing a final, which relies on the premise that all humans are the same. That's a false premise - humans are often very different, and can have different reactions to situations which can all be perfectly natural. You can state what the natural thing for you is, but not for anybody else.
I'm not insulting you any more than you're insulting anyone who takes off a silver medal. What I'm saying is that your view on this is really narrow minded, and self centred, as you're unable to understand a reaction that isn't the one you personally would have.
If you aint first, you are last.
I never mentioned obnoxious it was the poster ahead of me said obnoxious.
I still think the classy thing to do is accept your medal with decorum and grace, there’s nothing you are going to say will change my mind on that.
Yes people will react differently to how a loss comes about and if that’s what they’re going to do so be it but I just don’t think it’s the correct way to conduct yourself especially with the eyes of the world on you.