Clare Balding criticised England’s footballers for quickly removing their runners-up medals after their Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain during the BBC’s coverage of the Olympics on Sunday night.
Adam Peaty, who has won three Olympic golds for Team GB, ended up with a silver medal in the final of the men’s 100m breaststroke as he finished joint second with the United States’ Nic Fink, and two one-hundredths of a second behind the gold medal winner, Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi.
Peaty gave an emotional interview after winning his silver medal and shared a touching moment with his four-year-old son, George, and girlfriend Holly Ramsay, who were both in the stands to cheer him on.
‘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 after 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 Nick 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.’
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