The mishap with the 4th places

The looks are empty. Searching. Despair is inherent in them. Questions arise. Quiet. Nobody hears them. Why? Why me? Why today? How come?

The timing and distance measurements are incorruptible and cruel in their truth. A few hundredths are missing from the medal, a few centimeters. Hardly measurable. It's the famous blink of an eye, the attempt to give this period of time some size. A hint of desperation. Fourth place. Sheet. The famous metal that sounds so hollow and is so meaningless. This is not a problem in a World Cup race. In fact, not even at a World Cup is it made a big deal. Bad luck. But nobody talks about sheet metal. Only at the Olympic Games can the first place after the medals be surpassed in terms of brutality. Hofer's most painful defeat Many people have been affected, although there are of course differences in perception. For example, the biathletes' pursuer, Lukas Hofer, was ahead of his competitor for the medal for a lap and yet was unable to catch up with him. Two and a half kilometers of constant attempts were of no use. Hofer only ever saw the back of his Russian opponent Eduard Latypov on the track and he also saw how he slipped over the finish line and he was still a hundred meters away. For a moment it seemed as if all life had drained from Hofer. It was the most painful defeat of his career, even though he had a really great race. He probably would have gladly traded a World Cup victory for third place at the Olympic Games. When he gets home, he will be patted on the back. Bravo Lucky. And it will hurt again. Maybe even more so than at the end of the chaser.

The German combined athlete Manuel Faisst was also not lucky at the Olympics. In contrast to Hofer, however, he was only pushed into the metal box in the finish sprint. He was allowed to fight for a medal much longer than the Montaler. In the end, that's no comfort, because in the end his neck remains dry and empty and without the weight of a medal. Of course it was still a great race. Bravo Manuel. “My life would have been different after these Games if I had won gold.” Frank Wörndl These fourth places are so quickly forgotten because in some constellations even silver is seen as a defeat. Eurosport expert Frank Wörndl can sing a song about it that sounds as sad as Portuguese Fado. Heartbreaking. He came second in the slalom in Calgary in 1988 behind Alberto Tomba. After the first run he was still leading. In the end he was six hundredths of a second shy of the gold medal. How deeply this defeat affected him is made clear by a sentence he later said to me. “My life would have been different after these games if I had won gold.” He arrived in Canada as a golden boy, because a year earlier he had become world champion in Crans-Montana (Switzerland). But with the missed big, even the greatest, victory in his sport, this title also disappeared. He almost vanished into thin air. Sponsors wooed him with an Olympic gold medal. He would have become a very well-known face in German winter sports. It has become only silver, worth no more than a fourth place in his consciousness. Nevertheless: Bravo Frank, my friend. I know him well and I know that it still gnaws at him that he didn't make the big splash back then. After all, he was the last to drive through the gates in the second run. Tomba was already at the finish. He was alone with his task and did not have to and could not orient himself to others. He was on course for gold. The disappointment came like a lightning bolt and caught him completely unprepared.

As was the case with Kira Weidle, the German downhill skier who was the fastest on four sections of the Silk Road. She was told this later when her head fell forward at the finish and she groaned quietly but audibly after looking at the big time table. Where are the 14 hundredths of a second that were missing from the bronze medal that Nadia Delago from Val Gardena secured? After what felt like an eternity, I tried to sort it all out. “Could have been done better,” she said. A little bit, of course. But it was good, definitely. Bravo Kira. It should still be enough for an entry in the city of Starnberg's golden book. That would at least be a small consolation. A little gold, so to speak. Lena Dürr's tears Incidentally, she shares the sporting fate of a sheet metal racer with the slalom runner Lena Dürr from the German team, who even led after the first round like Wörndl once did. In the end it was just enough to bring tears. Dürr was 0.07 seconds short of the bronze medal. She is 30 years old and this season was by far her best. She has matured into a world-class rider and has finished third on the podium several times in the World Cup. When the medalists were called, she put on her mirrored glasses. She wanted to be alone and at that moment she was probably more alone than ever before. And yet: Bravo Lena.

At some point, like Hofer, Faisst and everyone else who narrowly missed out on the big dream, she will still see something positive from this result, even if it will be difficult, because the sadness about the missed opportunity is a persistent companion, especially in many people This is repeatedly pointed out after the races after the games. So the stinger digs further and further into the wound. And it will probably never heal completely, which makes it clear again that there is nothing bigger than the Olympic Games because only the medals count. Behind it, in fourth place, begins the big black hole and the infinite emptiness of an unfulfilled longing.

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The mishap with the 4th places

The Olympic Games can be cruel, especially when you narrowly miss out on medals or “only” get silver while on course for gold. Our columnist Sigi Heinrich, who comments for Eurosport, has picked out a few prominent examples of this.

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