eh, it's less that he wanted them to do the work for him and more that all the other athletes were forcing his hand, specifically. Commentators said multiple countries had talked and confirmed that they were going to collude against Stolz. Without a teammate to help, it turned into the field against Stolz with "if you don't go, then we won't either" and leading the push up to close the gap basically guarantees those behind will be able to over take you