World Gold or Olympic Silver?

[ancientpeas]

The silver medalists at Olympics this year all seemed sad about winning silver. All the Bronze medalists seemed happy and joyful. I'm going to say that obviously it is better to win Bronze than Silver at the Olympics. What? That's not the question?

Being World Champion has a better ring to it than Olympic medalist to me. My guess would be it would depend on A) who you beat, B)How you skated, and C) how much of a struggle to get there it was. My guess is that it's contextual to how you achieved that medal. Did you go in as favourite? Did you come out of nowhere? Too many variables to come up with an answer.

 

[Sportfan]

The two systems work differently.

With Worlds, you'll need to win at least twice because if it's just once, it might have been just luck.

With the Olympics, there are a lot more people watching, so it also has to do with your performance. Medvedeva gained more recognition and popularity with her Olympic Silver than Sotnikova with Olympic Gold. Lipnitskaya also made a name for herself through the Olympics even though she only won a team medal.

This comparison is not fair.
Adelina never had a chance, bc of the Yuna Kim supporters who are still very loud, calling her names and spreading lies about her. Even someone, who doesn't watch figure skating and doesn't even know who these skaters are, can read the complains how "the wrong one won" and people are easy to manipulate.
On the other hand, Medvedeva is "popular" bc of the anime fans, not bc of her medals.....

 

[Sportfan]

The Olympics is only "big title" because of the hype and media...but when you look at just the sport itself, it's pretty much nothing...

It may be nothing for you, but not for the athletes

 

[kenboy123]

It may be nothing for you, but not for the athletes

It still does not make it a big title...

 

[Sportfan]

It still does not make it a big title...

It is for the athletes. It brings them money, reputation and chances for jobs after they retire.

 

[kenboy123]

It is for the athletes. It brings them money, reputation and chances for jobs after they retire.

I'm talking about significance within the sport... Not these added bonuses... When it comes down to significance within that particular sport, it has none... It's all hype, media and attention...

 

[kiches]

It still does not make it a big title...

It’s a big title because the athletes, coaches, and community regard it that way in figure skating. When you see clips of skaters as kids talking about their dreams it’s almost always to be Olympic Champion. I’m not sure what makes it any less of a big title in your mind as it’s still a large international competition, coupled with the fact that it comes only once every four years.

 

[Yatagarasu]

The Olympics is only "big title" because of the hype and media...but when you look at just the sport itself, it's pretty much nothing...

Nope. It is the biggest title in sport, in all ways. The athletes themselves consider it so too.

 

[sowcow]

This comparison is not fair.
Adelina never had a chance, .

Yes she did! Adelina choose not to compete at the World Championships after her 'win' at the 2014 Olympics. Perhaps if she had of competed in Saitama, she could have proved all the naysayers wrong by winning the World Championships. But, she instead chose not to fight (... and I think we all know why!)

 

[Mathman]

World Gold obviously, Olympics is not even a big title (or should not be considered a big title) in any sport...the Olympics was made for amateur athletes, just because it extended to the professionals doesn't mean it automatically gained significance when it had none to begin with...

Of course the Olympic Games were devised as a showcase for amateur sports. The Olympic title is the biggest achievement in any amateur sport that participates: ice skating, track and field, swimming, gymnastics, sword fighting, weight lifting, you name it.

For professional sports, sure, they have their own thing. The Stanley Cup, Wimbledon, the Masters green jacket, etc. Professional athletes in these sports do not hold the Olympics in the same regard.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Yes she did! Adelina choose not to compete at the World Championships after her 'win' at the 2014 Olympics. Perhaps if she had of competed in Saitama, she could have proved all the naysayers wrong by winning the World Championships. But, she instead chose not to fight (... and I think we all know why!)

I certainly don’t know why and it isn’t unusual for an Olympic gold medalist not to go. There are a lot of appearances and things of that nature that hinder the training.

 

[Yatagarasu]

Professional athletes in these sports do not hold the Olympics in the same regard.

Though I would say lately, the title for tennis is being held in pretty high regard. Fed, Novak, Rafa and co really, really wanted it.

 

[sowcow]

I certainly don’t know why and it isn’t unusual for an Olympic gold medalist not to go. There are a lot of appearances and things of that nature that hinder the training.

True, but in most cases, those Olympic gold medalists have nothing to prove. They've almost always been a previous World medalist at least...

 

[BillNeal]

I can't really chose between these two. Olympic Silver is often heartbreaking but gets a lot more recognition because the focus on FS is greater during that particular year and one is competing against skaters in peak condition versus the World Gold, even though an athlete is the best in the world that year.

That said, I think the best result is Aliona Savchenko's where she comes from fourth in SP to narrowly capturing the OG and then smashes the WR with Bruno one month later to win World Gold in the same year. As I think Chris said during the B.ESP broadcast after their FS, if they wrote their own script it will pale in comparison.

 

[Barb]

it depends, I prefer the medal where I gave the best performance. For example, I prefer to have 4th place at olympics with Satoko performances than world bronze medal with her performance of Worlds 2018.

 

[Koatterce]

Within the sport, world titles will mean more than Olympic titles. But outside of just the sport (i.e. to the general public), Olympic titles will mean more.

When someone wins a world title, most of the people that will see it are the existing non-casual fans of the sport, plus some people in their country due to media. It brings a lot of prestige within the realm of the sport. It will bring many opportunities, but most (if not all) will be in the realm of the sport.

When someone wins an Olympic title (or just a medal), a lot (possibly even the majority) of the people that see it are not fans of the sport or are casual fans (like if they watch only during the Olympics). And with the extensive media coverage of the Olympics, there will be a lot of opportunities from outside of just the sport. But the title is less prestigious within the sport itself. The Olympics is almost like a showcase competition, aimed to show the outside audience all these sports that they may not normally watch, and they get to see the best people compete and try to win, and it can draw more fans or people to take up the sport. It also provides a big platform for media attention, which athletes can take advantage of if they choose.

That being said, it depends what their goal is. If their goal is to have the highest prestige within the sport and opportunities within the sport, then world titles are the way to go. If they want more outside exposure and opportunities outside the sport, then Olympic medals will be their goal. Although, most Olympic medalists are also/will be/close to world medalists.

I'd say on a practical level, Olympic medals may be more beneficial to the athletes due to the increased exposure and opportunities outside the sport that they'll get. Even non-medalists can take advantage of the media attention to make a name for themselves if they want (though this is much more possible for those from large federations). The Olympic medal/experience can be much more beneficial to their post-sport lives (outside the sport) as well.

 

[ChanClan]

Honestly, I would rather take the Olympic silver over a World gold. Just being an Olympic medalist is impressive because it only happens every 4 years and the whole world watches.

And just for some stats. In the last 3 olympics, 5 out of the 12 skaters/teams that won gold went to Worlds and of those 5 only 2 (Tessa and Scott; Aliona and Bruno) won World gold after winning Olympic gold.

 

[ancientpeas]

I thought of an example:

Brian Orser and Elizabeth Manley. Both won silver medals at the '88 games. For Elizabeth it was the pinnacle of her success. She did not expect to win the silver, she did it at home and she beat Debi Thomas who was world champion. She would probably tell you that her Olympic silver means more to her than a world championship gold. On the other hand Brian Orser was expected to win at home and he did not. He was really upset by this. I think if you were to ask him he would say that winning his World Championship means more to him than his 2 silver medals at the Olympics.

Evgenia would probably tell you her 2 world championships mean more to her than her Olympic Silver. P/C would probably tell you that their 3 world championships mean more than their Olympic silver. V/M who have both Olympic silver and a World Championship gold would probably tell you that their world championship gold means more than their Olympic silver.

So my thesis is: It depends on the skater and the conditions they won their silver under.

 

[Haleth]

It depends, which medal is France designing?

 

[sowcow]

On the other hand Brian Orser was expected to win at home and he did not. He was really upset by this. I think if you were to ask him he would say that winning his World Championship means more to him than his 2 silver medals at the Olympics.

I think he'd say:

"I'd trade in my World Championship gold (plus all my World Championship silver medals), plus BOTH my silver Olympic medals ...if only I had of won GOLD in Calgary in 1988"