Great Expectations
The Olympic Games bring athletes from all over the world together in one huge competition. With the melding of cultures, it becomes easy to see how cultural expectations can affect the reactions of athletes when their final scores come in on any given competition. Someone joked that China has much higher standards of achievement compared to Great Britain, and they might be right.
Chinese athletes sometimes appear heartbroken or defeated when they’re awarded a silver or bronze medal. Obviously, everyone wants to win the gold, but Western sports fans may be surprised to see such a defeated reaction from someone who got second place. British athletes seem to celebrate any chance they get, even if they only win a bronze medal. In the famous words of Ricky Bobby, if you’re not first, you’re last.