Why an Olympic diploma is the next best thing to a medal

Great news: Olympians who don't medal, but who finish between fourth and eighth in their respective sports don't go home empty-handed. They receive "a personally inscribed, autopen-signed, formal Olympic diploma," writes The New York Times' Sam Borden.

It sounds like a participatory ribbon, but the athletes appreciate them. At least Canadian snowboarder Mercedes Nicoll appreciated hers in Vancouver in 2010.

"It's really nice," said Nicoll, who finished sixth four years ago in the women's halfpipe event. "I mean, it's not the same as medaling, of course. I know some athletes who win medals like to show them around to everyone, but I don't do that. It's a piece of paper. I think that would be kind of dorky." 

Good call, Ms. Nicoll. Excellent call, dare we say. The Olympic diploma belongs on a fridge. 

Here's the thing: Nicoll appreciated the diploma because she had no idea she'd be receiving one. The podium and the medals get all the attention. No one thinks about who finishes fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth, and what they get. Not even the athletes themselves. 

Borden writes:

Most athletes and officials queried said they were aware of the various other certificates the [International Olympic Committee] distributes — volunteers, committee officials and any athlete who makes a country’s Olympic team receive an embossed acknowledgment of their role in the Games — yet admitted ignorance when it came to the diploma.

There's more: some diploma-eligible athletes never received their diplomas. American bobsledder Steven Holcomb finished sixth in the four-man event in Torino in 2006, but hasn't had the pleasure of sticking his diploma on his fridge.

"Maybe they mailed it to me, and my mother has it?" he wondered. "Or maybe they had the wrong address?" 

Back to Borden:

This was a common refrain. Several athletes said that they never received a diploma or, if they did, that they had no idea where it was now. Others said they were handed the diploma by a member of their national organizing committee at some point after their competition was over. A few said they received the diplomas and appreciated the gesture, even if they did not totally understand it.

American figure skater Rachel Flatt, who finished seventh in Vancouver in 2010, can't find her diploma, either.

"I wish they had done something similar for us."

The International Olympic Committee needs to gets its diploma game together. 

Former American Olympic skier Picabo Street doesn't want a freakin' diploma:

"If I finished out of the medals in a race, I didn't need a kind word and a piece of paper," she said. "I needed someone to get in my face and say, 'You skied terribly, so get back on the chairlift and go back up the mountain.'"

Canadian Nicoll, who finished 13th in the halfpipe in Sochi, is going to go back home and find her diploma from Vancouver. She's four years older, and four years wiser, and appreciates it a bit more now. 

"Do you think I should frame it?"

Yes, Ms. Nicoll. Yes we do.