SINCE when was being one of the eighth fastest in the world not good enough? Or coming second, third or even, gasp, fourth in a competition? Since the Olympics, apparently.
 

Last Wednesday, Team GB won their elusive first gold medal, five days into the Olympics. But by then, I was a bit fed up with a certain attitude. The front page of a national tabloid, the day after the men’s gymnastics team won a bronze – the first medal in this field for A CENTURY – stuck their image in a top corner, instead devoting the main space to a ‘Wanted’ poster of a gold medal.
 

The same paper then described the performance of the British swimming team, who competed in multiple finals on an evening but didn’t win a medal, under the headline of ‘breakdown’.
 

Then another infamous daily reported the eventing team’s silver medal on its front page as Zara Philips’ failure to win gold!
 

Surely, this is failing to see the wood for the trees. If supporting British talent over the years has taught us anything, it is that we should be delighted with the progress that new funding has brought in areas such as swimming and cycling.
 

Instead of bemoaning the fact that we haven’t won, we should be blooming well chuffed that we’re there representing ourselves so strongly alongside nations many times larger and wealthier than us. But all some seem to want is medals, preferably gold.
 

Depressingly, this whinging is infecting the athletes, forcing them to utter ridiculous statements such as Tom Daley’s apology to the nation for not winning the pairs diving and double Bejing gold medallist Rebecca Adlington’s defence of her 400m bronze medal.
 

And this is a girl who has been irrelevantly hounded by online trolls, including the comedian Frankie Boyle, about her appearance since she came to public attention.
 

Perhaps I feel so strongly because, when I was teaching, I constantly told my students that, as long as you do your best, you have absolutely nothing to reproach yourself for.
 

It broke my heart when pupils were upset at not being an A-grade student, so I felt it was essential to instil in them a pride in your own personal best. It doesn’t matter if you win the race, or play the lead role, or come first in the class, as long as you’ve tried your hardest. Winning is often important in life, but it usually isn’t everything.


Have the moaners ever reached the Olympic final of anything? Probably not. Let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture, and fail to be properly proud.