The tabloids build them up, so they can knock them down... it's only to sell more copies to the gullable.
People who are into their sport know that us Brits do pretty well. It's only the media who portray a great achievement such as coming 2nd as a failure. The tabloids come out with crushing headlines just to sell copies, and the TV channels come up with "It's been reported today..." just to repeat the tabloid headlines for sensationalism. Are we Losers? Yes, in the sense that we haven't won. But it's a juvenile attack to claim that 2nd place is a failure. And it's a juvenile response to take on the opinions of irresponsible journalists.
If we've lost to 4th place and come 5th, does that mean that whoever came 6th, lost to us, making us winners?
.. and whilst we're there... when you purchase your second stamp, are you creating your stamp collection, or adding to it? (Somewhat out of context I know...)
But is the sport thing fun... well we know how dull it is when the same team wins every single race
... so at least we can say British sport is more interesting... can't we??