The Rio Olympics are fully underway and the UK has won seven medals so far, but any athlete who did not claim the top spot on the podium “underachieved”, according to journalist Piers Morgan.
Forget the old adage ‘it’s the taking part that counts’, if you don’t win gold then you have failed, apparently.
Morgan angered scores of people on Wednesday after he said that “gold is all that matters”.
Incurring the wrath of Olympians, Morgan proceeded to torment those sportsmen and women who did not win the top prize in their discipline, claiming “not winning is always underachieving”.
The first athlete to challenge Morgan was openwater Olympic bronze medalist Cassandra Patten.
And then came a flurry of challenges:
Gold medallist rower Matthew Pinsent told Morgan he was “still wrong”.
While Kelly Sotherton, who won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, mocked Morgan, who is an avid Arsenal supporter.
A host of other elite athletes followed suit, including Olympic finalist swimmer Daniel Fogg...
Swimmer Gareth Mills...
Hurdler Andy Turner, who competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics...
2012 Olympic swimmer, Marco Loughran...
And 2012 Olympic swimmer, Chris Walker-Hebborn..
Weightlifter Zoe Smith, who competed in the 2012 London Olympics...
And American weightlifter Sarah Robles, who qualified for the 2012 London Olympics...
Perhaps the ‘spirit’ of the Games really is lost on some people.