Olympians who won the silver medal are less happy than their counterparts who achieved bronze according to the results of a new study of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
Researchers behind the study argue that bronze medallist are happy to have secured a spot on the podium while silver medallists are lamenting about how they could have won gold.
However, how happy the medallists are is also influenced by how close their results were compared to the other medal winners.
Happiness: Olympians who won the silver medal are less happy than their counterparts who achieved bronze according to the results of a new study of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics
Results: Both gold and silver medallists were less happy when their results were similar to each other
Comparisons: The study also found that teams were generally happier than individual athletes, except in the case of silver medal winners, while the Olympians were happier than Paralympians
The results of the study was published in June this year as part of a paper from the Centre for Economic Performance based at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
As part of the research, a team of 756 volunteers studied the facial features and expressions of Olympians using available footage from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games.
They focused on the winning British athletes in both games.
It is believed that athletes who came second were comparing themselves to the winner and were haunted by thoughts of what could have been. In contrast, those who finished third were thinking how they could have come fourth, not making it on to the podium at all.
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UK cyclist Victoria Pendleton took silver in the women's sprint at the London Games after losing to close rival Anna Meares. Ed Clancy, another Team GB cyclist, bagged bronze in the men's omnium.
The London School of Economics study also cited the example of Team GB rowers Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, who just lost out on gold to their Danish rivals and were visibly distraught.
Economist Georgios Kavetsos asked 800 volunteers to examine video clips of British athletes' faces as they stood on the podium at the 2012 Olympics. Participants were asked to rate the medallists' happiness on a scale of one to ten.
New study: Researchers behind the study argue that bronze medallist are happy to have secured a spot on the podium while silver medallists are lamenting about how they could have won gold
Gold medallists scored 6.65 for happiness on average. Silver medal winners scored 5.92 – less than the 6.06 for bronze medallists.
The analysis showed silver medallists to be particularly miserable when they had been close to gold. But narrowly beating the bronze medallist raised their spirits.
Dr Kavetsos told The Observer: 'If you cannot win, then our study suggests you might feel better by taking your foot off the gas and coming in second by quite a margin and perhaps even coming in third.'
Those giving their opinions on 'how happy the Olympians were perceived to be' were not given any information about the medal awarded so they could focus solely on the facial expressions on screen.
They were then asked to vote on a scale between zero to 10 on whether the expression of the athlete showed agony or ecstasy and whether they thought the Olympians were happy or unhappy.
The results revealed that gold medallists were rated to be happier than both silver and bronze medallist while bronze medallists were more frequently shown to be happier than those who won silver.
However, both gold and silver medallists were less happy when their results were similar to each other.
But in contrast, if a silver medallists' results were close to the bronze medallist, they are thought to be happier than otherwise.
In fact, when silver and bronze medallists achieve similar results, athletes in the silver position are actually shown to be less happy than those in bronze.
Bronze winners were least happy of the group when their results were close to the athlete in fourth position.
The study also found that teams were generally happier than individual athletes, except in the case of silver medal winners, while the Olympians were happier than Paralympians.