This is more than tall poppy syndrome, this is about cutting down those who fail to achieve our lofty winning expectations – cue Steve Smith and his Test team already this summer.

We need to change our expectations.

Australian star hurdler Jana Pittman says when it comes to athletics, the vibe is much more supportive than a decade ago.

Rising young stars in Rio were billed as emerging next-gen stars. We wanted to watch them, not because they were massive medal chances, but because they were leaving everything they had in their arena.

Steeplechaser and middle distance runner Genevieve LaCaze pretty much set a personal best each time she stepped up to race. Sprinters Ella Nelson, Morgan Mitchell or pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall kept us tuned in to follow their potential, drive and enthusiasm.

Pittman flipped from being an in-demand world champion in 2003 to being branded all-drama amid knee troubles leading into the 2004 Athens Olympics, then pitted against fellow Australian 400-metre runner Tamsyn Lewis, largely fuelled in the media.

Backlash was enough for Pittman to want to leave Australia for England.

When Pittman stepped out on the MCG in 2006, the 80,000-strong roar to cheer her along made her “run faster than anything else” to defend her Commonwealth title on home soil.

The two-time world 400m hurdles champion and four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist has since reinvented her game and tested her body to the limits as the first Australian woman to compete in Summer and Winter Olympics. She suited up in the two-woman bobsleigh in Sochi 2014.

Pittman, speaking to media before the Ballarat Sportsmen’s Club Christmas dinner, maintains she has always openly, honestly spoken about her game without bringing others down. Looking back on her early career, Pittman chalks up part of her negative image as still having a lot to learn. 

“The media can absolutely make heroes and the media can absolutely make dragons,” Pittman said. “There’s a lot of crap already going on in the world. They want a story but it can really hurt an athlete, who is just another human being.

“...We need to work out what is most important, and promote champions.”

Pittman highlights Mitchell as an “exceptional” youngster, whose strength is over 400m, and role model.

Elite sport demands our athletes be relentless, focused, committed. Struggles are amplified in sporting arenas. Yes, an athlete having the right attitude is key, but ultimately athletes are only human too.

Sport is about battles and heroes and villains can be a big draw-card. Sporting hero is not a term that should be used lightly, but neither should the villain tag. Sometimes is is important to take a step back and just appreciate an athlete for striving to compete at the best of their ability, giving their all. That is what we should expect.