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Having young and (Olympics) inexperienced teams hasn't stopped the women's track, the swimmers, gymnasts, or the numerous other sports, so why should the Men's track team let it stop them from reaching their dream? They don't owe it to anybody else, but as hard as they worked, they might as well take a gold home before they leave Tokyo, not that they have to. If there's a job you really want to get done, you feel better if you get it done than waiting for it to happen in a few years. If you tell yourself you'll be ready in a few years, you most likely will, but you will also not be ready for something great that could happen to you now.
The Men's track team might wake up before the Olympics is over, but only they will determine that.
While a lot of people focus on what the men's track teams of the past did right and this one did wrong, they're not thinking about this group not only being the first to try and train through a pandemic where the Olympics was in danger of being cancelled, but also the first group not to have their families present. The little things like that make a difference people don't see on the big sounding, built up events people do see on TV. It's hard to know exactly what these guys were going through no matter what people saw on TV.
Men's track found a little rhythm before the games ended, hopefully they feel good about it.
Being young and inexperienced is tough, you know there is a right moment to wait for, and you also know that does you no good if you're not ready to strike at the right time, you haven't always found a balance or a rhythm yet, and you get thrown out of rhythm before you find your rhythm, it can happen to a vet with years of experience and too many medals to count. Really if you're happy with a silver or bronze, or even just showing up, your country is with you no matter what, even if you don't look, act, or think like they do, and they're not going to stop believing in you if you don't stop believing in you. Really it is only you that ends up letting yourself down or being disappointed at the end of the games. A little bit of extra pain to endure and fight through for a gold might not be worse than a few years of frustration for you, but it's really nobody else's split second decision to make.
There's really just one thing that would defeat the purpose of going to the Olympics in the first place for the men's track, and that is give up because of a few stumbles. Whether you win or lose, you might as well fight through to the end, especially if you're young and you're going to be doing it a lot in the future. Starting a habit of giving up isn't going to get things done for you, and showing yourself or your teammates some tough love isn't the same thing as hating yourself/yourselves if you don't win a gold medal.
What's possible is only possible if you fight all the way through to the end and you won't fight the whole way through if you lose focus halfway through. The Olympics are almost over and there will be plenty to get distracted by afterward, no matter what mishaps you had yesterday, you can still finish strong so that you don't feel like all the work is ahead of you in life.
The Olympics is almost over, but it's not over yet. Men's track isn't beyond redemption if they want redemption, but they've really let some slips get to them and get them stuck for a few days.
Hopefully they don't listen to the kinds of guys that say they are semi American. It's been a difficult year for everybody, and it's been nearly impossible for Athletes that could only speculate as to whether there would be an Olympics at all, with no good way to properly train/practice/prepare for it. They love their country and their country loves them, win or lose, but they got it done today.
Men's track didn't go home empty handed, there's no good reason for anybody to give them a hard time about every mistake, slip, or stumble.
Hopefully men's track doesn't go home discouraged, they're just starting out and a lot of great things will happen for them if they don't give up. They didn't have an abudance of veterans to draw from their experience or leadership, so hopefully they don't let Carl Lewis talking to them like he was their father get to them.
The media might like to point out their mistakes, but the men's track team could have let the sting of defeat keep them from getting the gold medal today, and they didn't do that. They fought all the way through to the end, until the Olympics were over. Win or lose, they didn't give up on themselves.