Don't hate, celebrate.

The athletics is yet to start at the Olympics, but during the first week of the Olympics we have seen some disturbing trends.

We’ve seen James Magnussen criticised on social media after he was too disappointed to conduct a post race interview, Emily Seebohm mocked for getting emotional over missing the gold medal, and even some gutter journalism claiming if athletes aren’t going to win they should “go and get a real job”.

Since when was the Olympic mantra win or go home? The Olympics are about celebrating humanity, inspiring a generation, choosing to come together peacefully to play sport, to transcend race, religion, poverty, even war.

 I know how you feel Derek...

It is this win or go home line of thinking that puts pressure on the swimmers (and other athletes) to such an extent that when they don’t win they feel like a failure.

Emily Seebohm wasn’t a failure, she swam some of her fastest times of her life, she was close to the world record in the heat, she got her hopes up, had them dashed, and then had a microphone stuck in her grill and was asked to share her feelings.

James Magnussen is at his first Olympics, and many a great athlete has suffered from nerves in their first Olympics contest. Add to that immense pressure of an expected (almost demanded) gold medal, and it can easily weigh down a pair of shoulders that need to remain buoyant.

Not only that, but after the 4x100m relay defeat, Magnussen was shredded on social media for daring to be standoffish, while the pressed dismissed him as yesterdays news. Again, a microphone shoved in his face after disappointment, and then judged on his reaction.

Take a moment and remember the last time you had your hopes dashed, or remember the last time you were at your worst. Maybe it was a day you didn’t have enough sleep and felt a bit sick and were grumpy and you took it out on someone when you shouldn’t have.

Imagine if someone shoved a microphone in your face at that moment, and asked “Well this is you at your worst, tell Australia how you are feeling”.

"I FEEL LIKE PUNCHING WHOEVER ATE MY LAST COOKIE!"

When an athlete has lived and breathed for something for four years, and it doesn’t pan out, in that moment, they are at their worst, and in that moment they deserve understanding, not judgement.

The thought that athletes who aren’t winning should ‘get a real job’ just smacks of ignorance when countless Olympians already have to work full time, or work multiple part time jobs to fund their sporting dream.

Most Olympic sports are supported once every four years by sponsors and the public, but these sports don’t go into hibernation for four years and then spring back up again. Between Olympics, the sports and their athletes are in a constant battle for attention and funding.

To these sports, the Olympics is the ‘grand final’. Imagine if you only supported your favourite footy team once every few years when they made a grand final, and then when they lost it, you told the players to go and get real jobs.

"I'll see you in class, jerk"

Sorry, but if you didn’t support the team between finals, if you didn't care how they were doing in the months and years leading in, then you don’t have all the information to make a judgement on finals day.

If the public want better results from Olympic sports, it's not rocket Science. Support the sports between Olympics.

Find that sport that you enjoyed watching at the games and find out when and where it’s played locally. If you’re physically able, participate. Failing that, go and watch a meet/game and support those who give it a go. If that’s still too much for you, watch it on TV, watch it online, or find a social media hub for others who enjoy discussing the sport... Do something, because if you don't lift a finger, then in four more years if the results in that sport haven't improved at all, then part of that is on you now, because you could have helped but you didn't do your bit.

If enough people cared about the Olympic sports between Olympics, you’d eventually see a shift, a rise in participation, ratings, funding, and performance, but unfortunately, it is a pipe dream for most of these sports which will never gain regular public support in this country.

Many of the athletes in these sports HAVE given up, and had to either switch to better paying sports or go and get ‘real jobs’. Josh Ross has given up on the sport twice and struggles to make ends meet, Aaron Rouge-Serret is headed to the police force with a desire to get a steady income, and a lot of talent over the years has been lost forever. What is left are those who are prepared to struggle on the meager funding provided while they try and compete against the worlds best.

Rob a bank. Run from this man... Smart.

And yet they battle on, knowing there isn’t much chance they will ever make a living from the sport, but  year after year they sacrifice time with their family, scrape by, all for that one chance in four years when they will have the opportunity to compete in their chosen sport while the public is watching.

If you’re watching now, don’t hate, celebrate.