Does this actually give us a “ better idea why athletes who did objectively better, as in won silver versus bronze, might appear less happy” as claimed by the m

Does this actually give us a “ better idea why athletes who did objectively better, as in won silver versus bronze, might appear less happy” as claimed by the marketing professor running the study? How does this test the upward/downward comparison hypothesis? I’m very ready to accept that image recognition can help support the idea that third place winners are happier than second place, but I don’t see how that helps tell us why at all.