Cheering is encouraged, but not for other’s failure
With another Olympic games comes a slough of news related to it. Everything from protecting the stray dogs removed for the Sochi stadium, unfinished hotel rooms, a creative Olympic rings interpretation and possible cameras in showers around the Olympic Village has been on the media’s coverage of the games. “#SochiProblems” took off on Twitter, allowing people all over the world to witness the conditions and weigh in on how they feel about the host country.
One of the latest bits of news has to do with people weighing in a little too strongly on how they feel. While uncouth statements backing your country and decrying the competition are relatively acceptable on Twitter, doing it over international news coverage is a bit more serious.
BBC reporters are being chastised for their coverage of the first ever Brit to earn a medal on the snow, Jenny Jones. Jones claimed bronze in the Olympic Slopestyle for snowboarding and was cheered on by plenty of fans — as well as two BBC commentators and a teammate during their live coverage.
The commentators, Ed Leigh and Tim Warwood, along with Jones’ friend and fellow British snowboarder, Aimee Fuller, cheered as Austria’s Anna Gasser fell during her run. Leigh was also heard saying: “I can feel my pulse in my lower intestine.” Followed by Warwood’s response of “that’s not your pulse, Ed.”
It’s expected that all levels of athletes present themselves with good sportsmanship, a way of showing they have respect for their game and opposition. Competing in sports in school there are sportsmanship contracts that students must sign to play, promising to not disgrace their organization to the best of their ability.
It’s understandable that this was a riveting event for all three British nationals, and they clearly were feeling the effects of it in their lower intestines and elsewhere. I don’t think that their excitement was misplaced; however the disrespect to another competitor and the competitor’s country was wrong. To cheer on the failure of another athlete who has trained rigorously the last four years, and no doubt the majority of their life, to get to the Olympic games is disrespectful to all the athletes competing. It’s also a bad example to the millions of young athletes watching out there dreaming of their own medals someday.
Fuller happened to follow her enthusiasm with an offhand, “Are we supposed to do that? Probably not,” but no hint of apology. The ultimate goal of these games is to bring the world together for a few weeks for something patriotic and noble. This year has especially focused on equality and respect for all, considering the host country’s very anti-gay laws. A prominent country like the United Kingdom should be able to do better in displaying international respect.