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Although Chinese fencer Wang Lei gave our best performance in the Olympic discipline with a silver medal, regrets still linger after the fourth day of competition in Athens.

It is not because China's gold medal reaper temporarily stopped rolling. No, it was because our athletes lost with unexpected, unexplained lapses in those disciplines they were expected to win comfortably, according to an article in Thursday's China Daily.

China lost the men's badminton double quarter-finals on Tuesday (Aug.17) and men's badminton single quarter finals yesterday (Agu.18). Our beloved "steel roses" women soccer team withered as they finished last in their group. Let us not mention Monday's loss by the men's gymnasts squad in the team event.

Some athletes were scolded by their coaches, while team leaders met to analyze what went wrong in the events they did not win.

But it might be some in the media, bent over their keyboards, finger tips full of advice and expectation, who need self-examination most. Perhaps their over zealous coverage of the games and our athletes thus far has yielded negative repercussions in certain quarters.

Too many praises, tips and even exaggerations have been made in the media before and during the Games, surely adding to the athletes' complacency and subsequent stress when things started going wrong. A major news website even wrote a sensational headline yesterday, braying the rivalry for top position on the gold medal standing was "white hot."

Coupled with the gold medal mania is apathy for those less popular events. This is evidenced by the traditionally skimpy coverage of such disciplines as women baseball and cricket, despite the hard toil of our players to make the grade.

The Olympics would become a fake event if it is only about gold medals and glory.

Athletes are humans. Some of them come from families of unemployed workers who believe sports can give their children a promising future, others are from farming communities who cannot afford to visit the training camps in Beijing. We should all expect the same as these athletes' families expect of their loved ones; to take part gallantly and try one's best.

We should appreciate and enjoy their aspiration to challenge the impossible and be best.

After his partner's last-minute error cost the men's springboard double gold on Monday, Chinese diver Peng Bo said, "We're ordinary people. We feel pressure, and sometimes we can't help having some distracting thoughts. Please understand us."

Perhaps our media, instead of competing for a gold medal in hype, should foster a better understanding of the Olympics. If they remove the god-like halo they have imposed on our athletes, they could celebrate and care more about the sweat and tears they shed.

Editor: Lin Shujun