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To quote the Big L, "that's just, like, your opinion man". I, for one, think we do an incredible disservice to the athletes that perform to not acknowledge oth
by jszymborski 5y ago
To quote the Big L, "that's just, like, your opinion man".
I, for one, think we do an incredible disservice to the athletes that perform to not acknowledge other places.
When an athlete manages to beat an Olympic or World record and comes in second by a hair, I think its pretty silly to state "other places don't matter".
First place is better than second is better than 8th is better than 11th.
If these places didn't matter, why would we bother keeping record of standings?
I just don't get the "Gold or last" mentality.
- lern_too_spel 5y agoBecause that way of thinking encourages sending hundreds, thousands, or millions of competitors and because (as shown by sports that don't allow one country to win multiple medals) the organizers of the sports don't think those other places matter either. We don't try to determine the world rankings of people who failed to qualify for the Olympics, nor should we try to determine the rankings of teams that fail to qualify from group play into elimination rounds of the Olympics, nor should we try to rank teams that are eliminated from elimination rounds that haven't played each other. They're top athletes, but the point of each Olympic sport is to determine the best. Any additional ranking computed beyond that is purely arbitrary.