Editorial: Athletes' attitude is a winner

Sport brings out the best in us, the worst in us too.

Somewhere in New Zealand is a seed bank for tall poppies that have a finite life. These poppies grow with the acceptance that at some point they will be cut down if they grow too tall.

Generally it is the media that wield these secateurs.

When Valerie Adams placed second in the shot put this week in London, a breaking news alert landed on my smart phone. It said "Valerie Adams fails ...".

So did the second breaking news alert.

It was 10 minutes after the event before someone thought to change it to "Adams wins silver".

Watching Adams, one could see where the sense of failure came from. She was distraught, clearly she had an expectation she would win. There was no interaction between Adams and the gold medal winner Nadzeya Ostapchuk - not that was captured on camera anyway. The victorious Belarusian walked close by Adams, on her way to the traditional trackside celebration, the cliched photos with her country's flag etc.

She glanced at Adams - there was no response from the head-down Kiwi and she kept walking.

Winners don't stop to console also-rans. Later, Adams was in slightly more congratulatory mode.

Bad sport? No.

Gutted? Yes.

We'd all like our athletes and sports heroes to be articulate, witty and charming - gracious in defeat, humble in victory. But they are not - they're human.

Like Nick Willis. My enduring memory of the Olympic Games will not be a medal-winning performance.

It will be watching Nick Willis' post-race interview, in which he graciously allowed himself to be interviewed after he ran second to last in the 1500m final.

The gold medal winner won in 3.34.08. Willis' personal best is 3.30.35. He was capable of running faster than the winner. After finishing, he almost immediately answered several variations of the "how do you feel?" question, live on air. He was open, direct, honest, humble and apologetic - sorry that he had let down the supporters who had sent him messages.

He had no excuses, he explained that his legs were "gone" too far out from the finish line and the others ran faster - it was that simple. He wasn't sure why - he had felt okay.

Even amateur sports scientists and psychologists will tell you that there is an unknown factor that can affect an athlete's performance. They can get the training, the diet, the preparation 100 per cent right, but on the day, all sorts of odd things can happen.

It was one of those days for Adams and Willis. But it doesn't mean we should be any less proud of them.