Have the media put gold medals around the necks of athletes too early?

It was very sad to see Jessica Ennis deposed as world champion earlier today. However, she was beaten by the better athlete in Chernova. But I can't help but feel that the intense media pressure put on her contributed a little to her defeat. It showed most in the Javelin, where she needed a throw of over 40m to have a chance but she just couldn't deliver. And her body language throughout was of someone not comfortable in the situation they were in.

Ennis has been under so much pressure since winning the world title back in 2009 not just to win in in 2010 and 2011 but there was already talk of a golden run in London. Pundits were practically hanging the medal round her neck and expecting her to win. There didn't seem to be a chance of anyone beating her. Fast forward to today and Jess has been beaten for the first time in two years. Chernova has always been billed as a big threat and she came of age today. The pundits on Channel 4 seemed surprised that Ennis was unable to hold Chernova off. But the stats of both their second days showed that Ennis would have needed at least Personal Bests in all her events to have a chance as Chernovas second day is vastly superior. She got two but the Javelin was too costly. The counter arguement is that Ennis' poor start may well have contributed.

Ennis isn't the only athlete we have seen come up short in these championships. Mo Farah was expected to blaze to 10,000m glory but went too hard and his legs visibly went with 50m to go and gave Jeilan the oppurtunity he needed to storm through and win the gold. Farah has been incredible this season and I think he has a real chance of a medal in 5000m but I think we need to cool the expectations of gold that we had for 10,000m.

Most of the pressure put on the likes of Ennis and Farah is there because of next year and not the desire but the need to see our athletes do well next year. I can understand that, but sometimes that can cause athletes to over think the situation and become to involved in the whole build up to the event. Just look at the way we almost kid ourselves every year at Wimbledon that it might just be Andy's year. I'm guilty of it myself and we need to start being more realistic in the way we treat our sportsmen and women before major sporting events. Just look what happened to the England football team last year.

It isnt just the British media that can be accused of it. Even the coolest customer of them all, Usain Bolt, cracked in 100m final on Sunday and lost his title due to his false start.

Some athletes have been able to handle of it of course. Linford was a shining example back in 1992/93 when he romped home to Olympic and World Glory. But more often than not we have seen our best prospects come up short.

I hope the media start cooling the expectations of our athletes ahead of 2012. But sadly they wont. Its their job to build up the greatest show on Earth which just so happens to be in London which makes the build up even more intense.

We have to see what happens next year before we can truly see what they are made of

Yes!

The media have hung the medals around these athlete's necks too early as anything before the tape is too early but I'm not sure they are to blame for Ennis, Farah and Bolt's performances.

Jess Ennis acheived a better points score than when she won her last World title but came up against stiffer opposition this time. She would have needed a PB in the javelin just to equal her nearest rival and even then Chernova might have run even faster in the 800m if she had needed to.

Farah hasn't had much success in Major Championships in comparision to his acheivements in paced races and I suspect it was his lack of knowledge of his opponents abilities that may have lead to his 2nd place rather than the media hype.

Bolt just made a mistake. Very uncharacteristic but I don't think it was due to the media either.

I think the public's expectations of these athletes are over inflated in the media and so their excellent performances can seem in failures in comparison but I think the first 2 were beaten by excellent athletes and the third just made a mistake.

I completely agree!

Was gobsmacked when watching the news earlier about Ennis 'throwing away' the Gold, as though it was already hers before the tournament had started.

The media seem to be blinkered when it comes to the fact that the World Championships has amazing quality to it, and the heptathlon is always one of the more fiercly contended events.

Plus Mo's silver is AMAZING. We should be celebrating that he even a medal at all in such a tough race, it's a brilliant achievement.

Agree with PouissonR though - I don't think the media are all to blame, but we should be celebrating what we have achieved, not looking at it as though it's a failure.

Mo closed in 53. Mo has been winning races all season closing no faster than 53.

It just so happened that someone managed to close in 52 this time and get him. Can't see how you can blame him (or the press).

atheletes win or lose medals by their own ability what the press write/don't write shouldn;t affect them at all.

If they are up to the task theyll be fine if they are not they won't be

silver medal is a great acheivement and nothing to be ashamed of

The media quite often isn't expert enough, and often, does not place enough emphasis on the true value and credibility of specific performances...easily playing performances down; but I've had to come accept and expect this, as they often lack the depth of knowledge required to make reasonably accurate or appropriate statements...

All in my own expert opinion of course

Unfortunately it is the media's job to hype and hype or hype and dissappoint as it is more exciting and sells more that way. I agree it is rather annoying. The British media, I'm not sure how they do it, maybe they lack the charisma, but as soon as you get someone like Michael Johnson on their and he hypes it, it seems ok.

Maybe we shouldn't be hanging the medals round their necks, but just saying how great they are and how much of a great chance they have. It is our British all conquering attitude. Maybe we just sound too serious about our hype?? lol