❄️ WINTER OLYMPICS ❄️

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Calheel said:
Poor Canada. They’ve had to deal with a year of Trump and the 51st state. All they wanted was a little payback to win hockey gold in their favorite sport. Instead, they lose 2-1 in OT to USA in men’s and women’s hockey, in both games that they should have won. That is how it goes Canada.
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Throughout the Olympics we see so many athletes genuinely enthusiastic about winning a silver or bronze medal. That did not appear to be the case for Canada’s hockey team, they were devastated.
 
1moretimeagain said:
Throughout the Olympics we see so many athletes genuinely enthusiastic about winning a silver or bronze medal. That did not appear to be the case for Canada’s hockey team, they were devastated.
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There was a study a number of years ago now that looked at the happiness of Olympic medal winners (who you think would all be happy to be in the top 3 in their sport in the world). The findings...

1) Gold medal winners were nearly universally extremely happy.

2) Bronze medal winners were the next happiest. While a decent minority were disappointed that they didn't do better, the vast majority were glad to have gotten a medal and realized they could have finished outside the medals.

3) Silver medal winners were a much more mixed bag, although on the whole they were less happy than bronze medal winners. Many were excited for their achievement, but many were also quite upset that they had been very, very close to winning gold and being known as the best in the world at their sport. The perceived loss of not winning the gold was bigger for these folks than the perceived gain from winning second.

It would seem that the Canadian Hockey Team was in the "bigger perceived loss" group of silver medal winners.
 
Maybe somebody who had won several golds and maybe a silver or two and was past their prime and knew they had very little hope of a gold or silver, but just wanted to get a bronze to show they weren't completely washed up (and complete the sweep). But I bet that's a rare situation...
 
I'm going to be lazy and not even look it up, but if I heard correctly from the NBC team that 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game wasn't even a gold medal game. I had always thought it was.

They said in those days it was round robin and US won the gold later on aggregate.

Whatever the case, that was a magnificent performance from Team USA. The goalkeeper was MVP. Should have lost by at least 2 or 3 goals. Glad I got up at 5:30 AM Pacific time on a Sunday to watch it.
 
aGDevil2k said:
Has anyone ever tried to win 2nd or 3rd, intentionally, to get all colors?

Would be interesting. I could ask AI but I'm lazy
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I doubt that anyone has ever tried to intentionally not win gold, but I know that there are athletes who have at least 1 each of gold, silver, and bronze. Michael Phelps and Simone Biles each have multiple of each medal and I'm sure there are other folks like them.
 
hedge said:
Maybe somebody who had won several golds and maybe a silver or two and was past their prime and knew they had very little hope of a gold or silver, but just wanted to get a bronze to show they weren't completely washed up (and complete the sweep). But I bet that's a rare situation...
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Gemini: While there are no documented cases of an athlete publicly admitting to losing a gold medal match or intentionally slowing down at the finish line specifically to complete a medal collection, there are several instances where athletes have expressed a unique appreciation for silver or bronze because it completed their set.
Notable Medal Sets
Athletes who have achieved the triple (Gold, Silver, and Bronze) often describe it as a career-defining milestone, though the sequence is usually accidental or a result of aging and shifting competition levels.
| Athlete | Sport | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Lani Pallister | Swimming | At the 2024 Paris Olympics, she won a gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Having already won silver and bronze in previous world championship events, she noted the satisfaction of having all three, though she explicitly aimed for gold. |
| Daniel Wiffen | Swimming | After winning gold in the 800m and bronze in the 1500m in Paris, he joked about wanting a silver in the 10km open water race to complete the set. He ultimately finished 18th in that event. |
| Siobhan Haughey | Swimming | She has won silver and bronze medals and has openly discussed the prestige of the full collection, but continues to compete for the highest possible placement. |
The Competitive Deterrent
There are three primary reasons why an intentional second or third-place finish is practically nonexistent in Olympic history:
* Financial and Professional Incentives: National Olympic Committees often provide significant cash bonuses for gold medals that far exceed the rewards for silver or bronze. Sponsorship deals are also heavily weighted toward champions.
* The Risk of Failure: Olympic competition is so tight that attempting to pace oneself for second or third often results in finishing off the podium entirely.
* Ethical Constraints: Intentional losing, or tanking, is a violation of the Olympic Charter and the spirit of fair play. In the 2012 London Games, four pairs of badminton players were disqualified for attempting to lose matches to secure a more favorable draw in the knockout stages, proving that officials monitor and penalize non-competitive behavior.
Summary
The phenomenon of the Full Set is celebrated as a rare achievement of longevity and versatility, but it is viewed by athletes as a silver lining of a long career rather than a strategic objective for
a single race.
 
MendotoManteo said:
I'm going to be lazy and not even look it up, but if I heard correctly from the NBC team that 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game wasn't even a gold medal game. I had always thought it was.

They said in those days it was round robin and US won the gold later on aggregate.

Whatever the case, that was a magnificent performance from Team USA. The goalkeeper was MVP. Should have lost by at least 2 or 3 goals. Glad I got up at 5:30 AM Pacific time on a Sunday to watch it.
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The US beat the Soviets in the medal round (basically the semifinals) and then beat Finland for the gold. The Soviets beat Sweden to take the bronze.
 
MendotoManteo said:
I'm going to be lazy and not even look it up, but if I heard correctly from the NBC team that 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game wasn't even a gold medal game. I had always thought it was.

They said in those days it was round robin and US won the gold later on aggregate.

Whatever the case, that was a magnificent performance from Team USA. The goalkeeper was MVP. Should have lost by at least 2 or 3 goals. Glad I got up at 5:30 AM Pacific time on a Sunday to watch it.
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Correct. The medal round was still a round robin situation. The US beat Finland in ther next game to win the gold
 
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