Olympians are lining up to ridicule Piers Morgan for saying that silver or bronze medals aren't worth celebrating

• Olympians are criticizing Piers Morgan for claiming that silver or bronze Olympic medals aren't worth celebrating.
• "Real sporting champions don't celebrate coming 3rd," tweeted Morgan.
• A number of Olympic bronze and silver medalists replied to Morgan, questioning his assertion.

Olympians are lining up to criticize Piers Morgan after he claimed that silver or bronze Olympic medals aren't worth celebrating.

Morgan, who has never competed in any form of elite sport, caused a stir on Monday when during a Twitter debate about whether the Tokyo Olympics should have gone ahead, he said: "Real sporting champions don't celebrate coming 3rd."

The comment provoked backlash from a number of former Olympians, who were quick to defend their sporting achievements.

Pairs skater Meagan Duhamel, who won gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals during her illustrious career replied to Morgan saying: "I feel pretty comfortable with my bronze medal thank you very much. "Winning" means different things to different people!"

-Meagan Duhamel (@mhjd_85) July 27, 2021

Three-time Olympic bronze medalist Kelly Sotherton said: "Then don't celebrate anything other than gold … ok piers fully behind Team GB."

Morgan responded to Sotherton by calling her a "serial Bronzer."

Paddy Barnes, a former professional boxer and three-time Olympian offered to "fight" Morgan for his bronze medals, while hurdler Andy Turner told Morgan to "pipe down."

"Fortunately your opinion means very little to the majority so pipe down old chap," said Turner, who never won an Olympic medal, but won bronze in the 110m hurdles at the 2011 World Championships.

Morgan hit back at Turner in typical pedantic fashion by saying: "Given I have 7,947,743 more followers than you, 'old chap', and won the same number of Olympic medals, I'd suggest my opinion means rather more to people than yours."

-Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 25, 2021

Not everyone appears to disagree with Morgan's controversial take, however.

The former Good Morning Britain presenter shared a Daily Telegraph article in which rower James Cracknell, who won two Olympic Gold medals for Great Britain, wrote that "gold is the only currency that counts."

"Winning can be contagious - just as losing can be," he wrote of Team GB's current exploits in Tokyo. "Watching these gold medals roll in will give everybody a jolt.

"Suddenly, a bronze or a silver won't get you on a newspaper front page, the lead bulletin on the sports news on BBC or extend that commercial endorsement - it may sound brutal, but gold is now the only currency that counts."