I am not bemoaning the poor performance of any of the athletes. What I find disturbing, to put it mildly, is post-performance behavior.
It is my opinion that any of these athletes should comport themselves with the dignity befitting the event and keep in mind that for the few minutes or so that they are in the world spotlight they are representing their country and their fellow country men and women.
If their performance doesn't match their expectations they should not sprawl out on the ground, be it covered with snow or grass, and bury their head in the ground and pound their fists. I wouldn't care to see a ten year old behave in such a way, let alone a teenager or older in an international sports event.
After the first run of the halfpipe that is exactly what one of the Japanese snowboarders did. Then an even more pitiful performance of the same nature happened after one of the Japanese snowboarders finished his second run. In fact, the second childish action was just plain disgusting.
There were many other snowboarders that did just as poorly or worse and were just as disappointed, but not one of them displayed such childish antics. Mostly I saw a ﾂ"shoganaiﾂ" body language and while the camera was on them while they were waiting to get their scores they put on their bravest face and stood before the world showing that losing isn't the end of the world.
But if the Japanese public does not get on the case of those two young ﾂ"athletesﾂ" we will just see more of the same in the future. That media account you provided the link for was very tame, misa.j, in describing just one of those two sad, sad post-performance emotional exhibitions. I hope to see at least one Japanese journalist lash out in a harsh, harsh way. But fat chance that will happen, right? I hope I'm proven wrong.
