During the BBC’s coverage of the Olympics on Sunday night, Clare Balding criticized England’s football players for removing their runners-up medals so swiftly following their defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
In the men’s 100-meter breaststroke final, Adam Peaty—who has three Olympic gold medals for Team GB—finished in a tie for second place with Nic Fink of the United States and two hundredths of a second behind Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi, who took home the gold.
Following his silver medal victory, Peaty gave a tearful interview and had a heartfelt moment with his four-year-old son George and fiancée Holly Ramsay, who were both watching him from the stands.
‘I am not crying because I have come second,’ Peaty said.
‘I am crying because of how much it took to get here. In my heart I have won. These are happy tears.’
Peaty and Fink shared a spot on the podium, while after the medal ceremony the two athletes had wide smiles on their faces as they happily interacted with the crowd.
And Balding believes the demeanour of Peaty and Fink was a stark contrast to England’s players following their defeat to Spain at Euro 2024 earlier this month as some players in Gareth Southgate’s squad had taken off their silver medals before leaving the podium.
During a clip of Peaty and Fink celebrating with their silver medals, Balding said during the BBC’s coverage: ‘I love this because honestly, after the final of the Euros when they [England’s players] all took their medals off, I just thought, ‘you got to a final, you performed really well, don’t say this means nothing’.
‘I love the fact that Adam and Nic Fink there are clearly incredibly proud of those silver medals and will hold them up and say, ‘yes, I won this’.’
Former Team GB swimmer, Mark Foster, who was a pundit for the BBC for Peaty’s final, agreed with Balding’s verdict as he replied: ‘Yes, 100 per cent.
‘I mean why, why do you take your medal off? What, do you think you’re a loser all of a sudden because you’ve come second in the tournament?
‘No, you’re second in the world or you’re second in Europe. You should be proud of it, yes, absolutely.
‘Probably emotional, knee-jerk reaction, one does it and they all go, ‘oh, yeah, we don’t like that’. But they should be proud, really, really proud.’