Is it really the taking part that counts?

What do Ricky Hatton, Lewis Hamilton and the England football team all have in common? They are all losers. There is a well known saying – "It’s not the winning, but the taking part that counts" but is that really true? Is winning not the main goal when competing?

There is something inside of every one of us, no matter how big or small, that drives us to be winners. We want to be the best, we want to be acknowledged, but most of all…we want to be remembered.

2007 was the year to beat Britain in almost every sport, with the rugby team coming back empty handed from the World Cup, Hamilton didn’t become Grand Prix champion and even more surprising, the football team failed to make Euro 2008. But why is it all so shocking for us Britons? Are we all too patriotic and expect too much, or have we built our sporting hero’s up too high?

We live in a country where the media builds you up to knock you down. One minute David Beckham is a footballing hero, the next the country is in mourning because he is sent off. Sport stars, celebrities and wannabe’s accumulate most of the column inches in the red tops and glossies, hating them when they win and hating them even more when they lose.

This has been seen in the recent coverage of the Hatton fight against Floyd Mayweather. Support was huge for the British champion, even after losing, but it won’t have been enough for him as a competitive sportsman. He won’t be proud he took part, more disappointed that he didn’t win which has been suggested in the rumours following, that he had considered resignation.

We seem happy to accept the taking part, getting a pat on the back and being told "better look next time." But while that is practised at primary school sports days, it does not ring so true in the professional spectrum.

But what about just trying your best? Surely there is more reward in losing after trying your best than doing a half arsed job and having to live with the repercussions.

But don’t reach for those tissues just yet, don’t roll over thinking we are all losers here in Britain. There are still a few people holding the torch of success and keeping the light of success burning for the country to see.

Joe Calazaghe, rightfully so, was named 2007's Sports Personality of the Year. A few years to late if you ask me, but never-the less after a decade as world champion, it was about time his success was acknowledged. Beating stiff competition from Hamilton and Hatton, it just shows that column inches and tittle tattle will one day lose out to victorious and well-deserving winners.

It is about time that more of Britain’s less talked about winners are acknowledged for their dedication rather than heralding people like David Beckham, Tim Henman and Jonny Wilkinson as being sporting greats. Fame over shadows talent, suggesting that the true stars won’t be mentioned when playing against a famous face. More people like Calazaghe and Amir Khan should be recognised for what they do – winning rather than just taking part.

We have to learn to stop building up someone, to knock them down and treat the losers like champions when they aren’t. We need to start rewarding the true stars of Britain; after all…if losing was a sport, we would definitely be the winners.