The quiet champion

Original non-fiction-style practice text.

The winner thanked her coach, named the people who had trained with her and sat down. The ceremony's host looked almost disappointed by the empty minutes remaining on his card. I could have applauded the speech twice for its length alone.

Brevity is not automatically wisdom. A short sentence can be as empty as a long one. This speech, however, had said what the occasion required without pretending that a sporting result had made its recipient an authority on every difficulty in life. Gratitude arrived attached to particular people, and the next award began while we still remembered their names.

I wish more ceremonies trusted such an ending. The silence after a finished thought is not a fault which the most successful person in the room must immediately repair.

Assess the writer’s attitude towards the winner’s brief acceptance speech. Use three details from the text to support your answer.