News Desk: British boxer, Ben Whittaker was so upset with winning silver at the Tokyo Olympics that he refused to wear his medal and cried on the podium. The 24 year old boxer defeated on Tuesday by Cuba’s Arlen Lopez by way of split decision in the light-heavyweight gold-medal bout.
After the loss, the Team GB fighter collected his silver medal and stuffed it into his pocket, while Lopez and joint bronze medalists Imam Khataev and Loren Alfonso stood on the podium with their prizes around their necks.
He briefly took his medal out of his pocket to pose for photographs but again refused to wear it as tears ran down his cheeks.
Asked about why he chose to snub his prize, a visibly upset Whittaker told the BBC: “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, not to win silver. I’m very upset. This feeling will stick with me now, and I don’t want to feel like this again. I’m going to put this to the back of my mind because I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve. I’ll come back, trust me.”
While he may have felt he let people down with his defeat, the 24-year-old received plenty of congratulations for his achievement on social media.
