It's all media driven. NBC has destroyed the Olympics for American. Their coverage is unwatchable.
When Canada wins something, it's still a surprise and punching above their weight. Canadians compete for their sport, organization and their country. Americans take this for granted. Suni Lee is a nobody and she's now caught up in American ugliness. Read the quotes from DiMaggio and McIlroy in that article. And Gretzky has said similar things.
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We should still treasure the American baseball icon Joe DiMaggio’s philosophy: “There is always some kid who is seeing me for the first or last time. I owe him my best.”
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Even the golfer Rory McIlroy, who spurned the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, got into the Olympic spirit while representing Ireland in the seven-man chase. “I never tried so hard in my life to finish third.” he said to Golf Digest. He went further, explaining, “Being a part of something that's completely different and bigger than me and even our sport in general, that's a pretty cool thing.”
Normally, a miss on the final green costs PGA Tour pros tens or hundreds of thousands in prize money. This week, it was a medal or nothing. It meant much more to the competitors because a price couldn’t be put on it.
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I watched that final round. Matsuyama missed three short putts on the last three holes, any of which would have won him at least Bronze. He was so crushed he flubbed the playoff.
These are professionals. This is what it means to them.