I can understand the sentiment of excitement when the athlete from one's own nation wins the gold medal. It's the Olympic Games, and all who are involved want to do best, show that they are able to deliver, so to speak. When the whole world is watching you, you don't want to do poorly, certainly not if you're known all over the world as the 'best' at a particular sport. It's devastating when at the end of the day, the 'best' comes out in second, third, or fourth place. I know that there's more to the Olympics than winning, but I think that the majority of the participants go in there with a very, very high competitive streak. They come to win, to shine, to do their nation proud, and not to make a grievous mistake and be the topic of conversation (and then have their moment of embarrassment be talked about in the next few Games to come). You'd be surprised at how many people remember the mistakes, as well as the victories (and the formers are talked about more, for one reason or another).
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