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Olympic Boxer Ben Whittaker Refuses To Wear Silver Medal On Podium

Olympic Boxer Ben Whittaker Refuses To Wear Silver Medal On Podium

The Brit has been slammed by some fans online.

Max Sherry

Max Sherry

Team GB's Ben Whittaker has refused to wear his silver medal on the podium of the Olympic Games.

The British boxer was bested by Cuba's Arlen Lopez in the final at Tokyo and he wasn't pleased with the result.

It's understandable to be unhappy coming second on the world stage an athletes react to wins and losses in their own way.

Instead of placing the silver accolade around his neck, the light-heavyweight fighter chucked it in his pocket.

He also stood awkwardly at the podium while Lopez and bronze medalists Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez of Azerbaijan and Imam Khataev of ROC smiled for the cameras.

PA

Whittaker was obviously reeling from the defeat and left the ring shortly after the match was over with his hands in his face.

He's since revealed he regretted his very public display of discontent on the podium and wishes he wore the medal with pride.

"At the time I should have taken it on the chin and put the beautiful silver medal around my neck and just smiled," he said later.

"I did not want silver, I lost the gold, so to me it's failure, so I am not going to celebrate silver at the moment."

Whittaker was going into his Olympic final match against a worthy competitor.

Cuba's Arlen Lopez won gold at the Rio 2016 Games and was a hot favourite to add another gold to his trophy cabinet.

Lopez erupted in the first round and kept Whittaker on his toes and even taunted the British boxer to come at him.

At the end, the Cuban was too strong for his opponent and the match was given to Lopez.

PA

British commentator Piers Morgan wasted no time pointing out he believes this is how all Olympians should treat a medal that's not gold.

He's been complaining about seeing athletes looking happy with silver and bronze during the Tokyo 2020 Games and can't understand why they're not crushed.

Morgan pointed at Whittaker's reaction to coming in second as validation he's right.

He wrote on Twitter: "'You don't win silver, you lose gold. I'm very disappointed - I feel like a failure. You're in this game to win gold.' Love this - finally, an athlete at these Olympics prepared to tell the truth about competing in elite sport."

Morgan has been criticised by Olympic athletes all over the world for having a terrible outlook at Olympic medals and many have told him to keep quiet unless he's competed at a world level.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Medal, olympics, Boxing News, Tokyo Olympics, Boxing, Australia