would you rather win bronze or silver?

[margaret thatcher]

at the olympics/worlds. seems a daft one at first since silver is higher, but its also more likely to be seen in the context of failing to get gold and being so close yet so far.

i notice watching the games that bronze medalists often look far happier than silver medalists. i imagine many of the silvers are thinking about what they coulda done different

[gregregegg]

Depends on expectations as well as "if you could have won"

If its 2008 and your in the 100m sprint, you would rather win silver.... you wont spend a single second of your life wondering if you could have won if you had a different stratergy, you wont have any regret, you will just be happy to have been second to a ledgend who was way faster than you... and silver is better than bronze...

but if your the favourite in the marathon, get your stratergy wrong and gas with 1 km to go and fade... the worst result is getting overtaken right on the line for silver... where you wonder forever about every single tactic that lead to you gassing.... in that instance the punter that came third is obviously happier..

Silver is better than bronze if all other things are equal. but a close to gold silver is devistating and a silver for someone expected to win is obviously worse than a bronze for someone not expected to even make the final...

[tonyevs]

Silver .. the bronze medals tarnish and flake off in no time apparently.

[joshj909]

at the olympics/worlds. seems a daft one at first since silver is higher, but its also more likely to be seen in the context of failing to get gold and being so close yet so far.

i notice watching the games that bronze medalists often look far happier than silver medalists. i imagine many of the silvers are thinking about what they coulda done different

In boxing that's because they've just lost to get the silver when more was available. Bronze they just won to get and their previous loss becomes a memory. Ask them the following day which one they wish they had won and every single one would say Silver.

Silver .. the bronze medals tarnish and flake off in no time apparently.

That's just what Bronze does...

[margaret thatcher]

interestingly theyve actually studied this, and found it even in sports where silver medalists didnt necessarily compete any more recently than bronze

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/29/10225378 ... e-so-happy

https://time.com/6145596/2022-winter-ol ... happiness/

[Ruthless-RKO]

at the olympics/worlds. seems a daft one at first since silver is higher, but its also more likely to be seen in the context of failing to get gold and being so close yet so far.

i notice watching the games that bronze medalists often look far happier than silver medalists. i imagine many of the silvers are thinking about what they coulda done different

Maybe because they won their LAST fight?

[margaret thatcher]

at the olympics/worlds. seems a daft one at first since silver is higher, but its also more likely to be seen in the context of failing to get gold and being so close yet so far.

i notice watching the games that bronze medalists often look far happier than silver medalists. i imagine many of the silvers are thinking about what they coulda done different

Maybe because they won their LAST fight?

no they didnt, bronze medalists are the losing semifinalists , they havent had fights for third place for a while

[Ruthless-RKO]

at the olympics/worlds. seems a daft one at first since silver is higher, but its also more likely to be seen in the context of failing to get gold and being so close yet so far.

i notice watching the games that bronze medalists often look far happier than silver medalists. i imagine many of the silvers are thinking about what they coulda done different

Maybe because they won their LAST fight?

no they didnt, bronze medalists are the losing semifinalists , they havent had fights for third place for a while

do they not have a 3rd place match between the losing semi finalists?

[margaret thatcher]

nope, been that way for a while now

[Ruthless-RKO]

nope, been that way for a while now

ohh never mind thrn. So both semi finalists get a bronze medals?

[margaret thatcher]

yup, always 4 medalists - gold , silver, two bronze

[Noxy]

I remember reading an article once saying that bronze medal winners tended to be happier than silver medallists. As you say Maggie, silver meant no gold whereas bronze meant a medal.

[tonyevs]

If the bronze medalist is happier than the silver medalist it probably explains the winners mentality - I think it was Mark Cavendish who said he never sprints for 2nd ..