Whenever sportspeople gather, there is always an outpouring of respect - mostly real, sometimes fake - for each other. There is that unwritten code that forces everybody to be happy about everyone else's achievements.
Somehow at the weekend those guidelines were relaxed for John Steffensen.
And it highlighted how, indeed, athletes near at the top of their game have different approaches to their work.
Shortly after Steffensen's victory in the 400m at the Go for 2&5 Track Classic on Saturday, Geelong's new AFL captain Joel Selwood tweeted, "Anyone manage to see John Steffensen interview on ch10 tonight? #confidant (sic) #averagebloke?"
Not long later Steffensen replied via twitterverse, "call me and ask the champ yourself bud!!"
It followed Steffensen's exuberant post-race statement claiming, "It was a murder scene out there tonight - someone should have called triple zero."
Such flamboyance has cost Steffensen plenty of criticism.
