YouTube: The Agony of Defeat

The Olympics have provided us some amazing moments this year. Usain Bolt going nuts, Michael Phelps becoming the most decorated Olympic athlete in history, a plucky pair of distance runners sharing first and second place after years of training together, um…archery?

But it has also provided several moments of utter hillarious, failure. Here’s my top five.

1. Birhan Getahum was a competitor in one of my favorite events, the Steeplechase. In the event, competitors jump over chest high walls in an attempt to earn a spot as a character in the next Gears of War game. Unfortunately, for Ethiopia’s Getahun, he didn’t quite get the height he’d hoped. The result? A broken leg and a trip back home.

2. Platform diving is stupid and dangerous, so of course it’s a popular sport. But when you think of potential diving accidents, usually you think of how perilously close the diver’s head and bodies pass next to the concrete platform. German’s Stephan Feck, however, took things to a whole new level, almost immediately losing control of his decent and landing flat on his back in the water for a 0.0 from the judges.

3. Sorry for the quality of this video (or rather the guys watching it), but it needs to be seen. Elisabeth Black a vaulter from Canada doesn’t get much height on her vault, and ends up sticking the landing. On her face. The vault was the site of many other slips and falls that night, including the United States’ McKayla Maroney, the prohibitive favorite in the event shortly after landing a near perfect vault in the team finals, landing on her butt and famously getting pissed at the results.

4. Even veteran Olympic Champions have problems. Such as German Matthias Steiner. Steiner won the 2008 gold medal and was hoping to repeat this year. However, when he attempted a 196 kilo lift (432 lbs) he accidentally dropped it on the back of his neck. He was ultimately ok, but he obviously didn’t continue in the competition. A few days earlier, a competitor from Hungary and one from South Korea suffered a broken arm and a dislocated elbow respectively. But those are gross.

5. The U.S. Olympic Swim Team had an awesome Olympics, winning medals in just about every event they were entered in, with a lot of those being golds. But their fail came before the Olympics with this lipsynch video of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Ok, it’s pretty cute and harmless and kind of funny. But still, I didn’t need to hear this again.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *