In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner squared off in the 400 meters. Wariner has a following unlike many in track and field. He won the gold medal in 2004, and was hoping to break Michael Johnson's World Record in 2008. In 2008, Merritt won the gold and Wariner took silver.
In the photo below, Merritt, in the middle, looks somewhat content, but also fatigued. Wariner, on the right, looks stone-faced. In an interview with NBC, he was both disappointed and upset. Objectively, Merritt and Wariner should be thrilled. They just took the top two spots in the world. Wariner, in particular, ought to feel proud about the five-year dominance of his sport. Think about your job. If, over a span of five years, you were one of the top two in the world at your job at all times, my hunch is you'd be satisfied, proud, and even ecstatic at such consistently outstanding performance. Instead, Wariner looked and sounded like he had failed. In fact, when the bar is set as high as he had set it (#1 or bust), anything less is a failure.
In the photo above, who looks like he won the gold medal? Who has the biggest smile? David Neville, on the left of the photo, looks like he won the gold medal. In fact, Neville won the bronze medal in a photo finish. Consistent with Medvec et al.'s research on the counterfactual thinking, Neville appears to be relishing his bronze medal, knowing that forever more his name would be preceded by "Olympic Medalist". What likely contributed even more to Neville's positive emotions was the finish to the race.
Neville came down the homestretch in a tight race with five other runners. In a valiant effort to win the bronze, Neville dove headfirst across the finish line.
Neville lay on the track, exhausted, beaten physically, and beaten by two other runners. He finished only .06 seconds behind Wariner for the silver, but .04 seconds ahead of 4th place finisher Chris Brown.
Neville could have been crushed that he did not edge Wariner for the silver; instead, he looked and acted ecstatic that he had won a bronze medal. "I didn't look behind, I didn't look back, and I just kept my eye focused on the prize that was ahead," he said. "That's why I have a medal around my neck right now," said Neville. While Wariner would play the "What if I had run faster and won gold", Neville would be more likely to play the "What if I had not dove across the finish line and not taken third place?"
Often, life is not so much what happens to us, but how we respond and what we make of our situation. This helps explains why being 3rd can sometimes be better than being 2nd, and why while Jeremy Wariner sulked, David Neville celebrated.
Medvec, V.H., Madey, S.F., & Gilovich, T. (1995). When less is more: Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction among Olympic medalists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 603-610.
