Nothing to Lose

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Sport is one of life’s great spectacles. And winners often inspire our admiration and respect. But what about the losers? Here are some of sport’s most memorable moments of defeat.

6-love. 6-love. That was the score in the final of the French Open in 1988 when Natasha Zvereva took on Steffi Graf. (1) ……………………………………….. Afterwards, Zvereva reportedly said, “She was just too good”.

Heavyweight-boxing star John “The Quiet Man” Ruiz had the same problem when he met David “The Terminator” Tua in the ring in 1996. The fight lasted 19 seconds before Ruiz was knocked out cold and “seeing stars”. (2) ………………………………………..

But at other times, sports stars only have themselves to blame… like Lindsey Jacobellis. With seconds to go in the final of the Winter Olympics Snowboard Cross event, Jacobellis had a huge lead. There was just one simple jump left to complete, and then the gold medal was all but hers. But instead of just doing the jump, Jacobellis tried to do a “method grab”, a difficult (and completely unnecessary) manoeuvre. (3) ……………………………………….. Still at least Jacobellis took her defeat well. “Snowboarding is fun; I was just having fun.” she said afterwards.

Jean Van der Velde probably wasn’t having so much fun on the 18th hole of The Open Championship in 1999. Virtually unknown before the tournament, Van der Velde found himself 3 shots ahead at the end of the final round. Golf’s greatest prize was one hole away. (4) ……………………………………….. Van der Velde let the pressure get to him and played a series of crazy shots, ending up in the water. (He famously followed the ball into the water to see if he could still hit it out.) This defeat has gone down as one of the greatest “chokes” in modern sport.

(5) ……………………………………….. Take Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards from England. He entered two ski-jumping events in the 1988 Winter Olympics and came last by such a long way that he became an instant celebrity. At the closing ceremony, the Organising Committee president, Frank King, gave a speech in which he said, “Some have won gold, some have broken records, and some of you have soared like an eagle”. At that moment, 100,000 people in the stadium began to chant, “Eddie! Eddie!”

Who says no one remembers the losers?

a) Sometimes failure can make you more popular than ever.

b) The game lasted 32 minutes – the shortest Grand Slam final ever.

c) Alas, it proved to be one hole too many.

d) She fell over and could do nothing but watch helplessly as her opponent passed her by and gold turned to silver.

e) Still, at least both of them lived up to their nicknames.