Definitely true. I was in Beijing to see a couple friends competing in the 2008 Olympics. (Rowing events; a 2km race that takes ~6.5 minutes). One friend got

Definitely true. I was in Beijing to see a couple friends competing in the 2008 Olympics. (Rowing events; a 2km race that takes ~6.5 minutes). One friend got bronze, but was <0.25 second from gold. She was ecstatic! Another friend got silver, and was >1 second from winning. She was massively sad/depressed. (Part of that was expectations; the woman who got silver was 100% focused on gold and gold only.) I had heard this saying before (that bronze medalists were happier than silver medalists), but seeing it up close and personal right after their races was eye-opening.