When Losing Becomes Winning

A champion attitude includes dealing with missed targets as motivation for the future.

- David Ng

Being a “Champion” of your cohort, your district, perhaps your state or Nation, maybe even your region or the World, is an aim for elite professional and aspiring athletes.

The Champion status is however an achievement that is only possible for only one person of each category. Whilst it’s insightful to learn about the glory and ecstasy of the victors, the story of those that did not win is much more empathetic to readers of this publication.

CHAMPIONS AND THE ALSO-RANS

Focusing on the triumphant and the gilded is what populist media will often centre on, especially at key championships.

This is understandable in competitive professional sports where victory is the goal. In any running event, the champion is the benchmark which defines the event quality.

However, other perhaps more valuable stories can also be found amongst the “also-rans” in the running events. What are their stories like? Are they lessons that we can learn from as much as reading about the story of the champions? And are there lessons which even the champions can learn from?

THE EGALITARIAN SPORT