Suzy Fan,
First of all, it seems like you think I've criticized Ms. Hamilton in some way, which I haven't. I've criticised those people who a.) rank competing in a sport as being akin to, say, performing surgery, fighting fires, or running a company, and b.) think they have a right to a certain level of performance just because they paid for it, regardless of the athlete's fitness. Case (a) is untrue, because sports are, by definition, GAMES (as a previous poster mentioned). Things done for oneself, not for others.
I'm saying, if both spectators and participants remembered that definition performances might improve.
If Suzy felt pressure that might have affected her races in the past, I think that it was because first of all, she herself has made running her career, which means it's paying for her food, etc., and losing a race takes on more meaning than a game should, second, a bunch of spectators have put pressure on her as some sort of soldier representing the U.S. on a 400m oval battlefield. Both of which attitudes, I feel, are completely twisted.
The sport is the race or game, not the people watching it. Professional athletes are professionals because they take the money that people are willing to pay to watch them. If someone doesn't put in an honest effort, that's already against the rules of the sport. If we don't like what how an athlete performs, sure, we don't have to pay to attend their next race. But we don't have the right to ask for our money back. From the admission fee standpoint, people are paying to see a race, not to see so-and-so win the race.