If you've read any of my previous blog posts, you know that I love sports. When I was in the Boy Scouts of America, I earned just about every merit badge that involved sports that you could possibly earn. My high school offered a number of physical education classes, and I think I took every single one of them, including an advanced weight training class that was offered as "independent study." I even earned a college degree in a major called "Movement and Sports Science" that included classes in sports psychology, the history of sports, and exercise physiology. I am addicted to sports - unfortunately, I am not particularly good at them!
One of my favorite television shows growing up was ABC's "Wide World of Sports". Even if you don't like watching sports, it's a good bet that you've at least heard the show's iconic opening sequence voiced by the legendary sports broadcaster, Jim McKay (McKay hosted the show from 1961 through 1998). The show preceded the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (better known as ESPN) by almost two decades (ESPN's first broadcast occurred in 1979), and one could argue that ESPN was modeled on the success of the "Wide World of Sports." The show covered all manner of sporting events, everything from Acapulco Cliff Diving to Bull Riding to Demolition Derby to Figure Skating and everything in between. The script for the opening sequence said it all - "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports," which also introduced us to the now commonly used phrases, "the thrill of victory" and "the agony of defeat." I still get chills when I hear it, even today.
Watch the opening sequence. While the montage of sports clips that accompanied the phrase, "the thrill of victory" often changed, the clip that accompanied the phrase, "the agony of defeat" never changed. Today is actually the 50th Anniversary of that particular scene.
Vinko Bogataj was a ski jumper from Yugoslavia who had entered a ski jumping event in Obsterdorf, Germany on March 7, 1970. ABC's Wide World of Sports was there to cover the event. The weather conditions on that particular day were absolutely atrocious. A light snow had started to fall at the beginning of the competition, but by the time of Bogataj's third and final jump, the snow had started to fall quite heavily and the wind had picked up significantly. Bogataj realized midway down the ramp (i.e. too late!) that the conditions were too dangerous and that he was going too fast. He tried to change his center of gravity in order to slow down, but instead he lost his balance and crashed to the ground. According to a later interview, Bogataj tried to get up to repeat the jump. Wisely, officials forced him to go to the hospital, where he was later released, suffering only a mild concussion and a broken ankle.
Bogataj was later asked to attend the 20th Anniversary celebration honoring the Wide World of Sports in 1981, where he received a standing ovation (even Muhammad Ali asked for an autograph!). The sports clip has become so famous that there was even a term (from comedian Rich Hall's book, Sniglets) "agonosis" that refers to the syndrome of tuning in every week to the Wide World of Sports just to watch the "agony of defeat" clip. Bogataj returned to competitive ski jumping in 1971 but was never able to replicate the success he had achieved prior to the crash, nor the fame he had achieved as a result of it. He later retired and eventually became an instructor and even coached the 1991 World Champion Franci Petek.
I know what you are thinking. "Great story, but what's the leadership lesson?" Well, besides being a great story (that happened 50 years ago to the day), there's a great lesson here. What was the first thing that Bogataj said after crashing? "Can I get up and try again?" I am paraphrasing, but after an absolutely horrible crash, the first thing he wanted to do was get up and try again. The easiest thing to do after failing at something is to quit. As the saying goes, "Quitters never win, and winners never quit." Did you fail? Fine. Learn from it. And then get back up and try again.
We are all human. That means that we all make mistakes, and we all fail. Even the best among us have failed. But what separates greatness from just plain old good is that the great ones view the times that they failed as an opportunity to learn and get better. The great ones turn "the agony of defeat" into the "thrill of victory."
As I frequently do, I will end this blog with a few of my favorite quotes on failure.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill
"When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important." Ellen DeGeneres
"Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be." John Wooden
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