As a child in the UK, I grew up watching British athletes become the also-rans of Olympic finals. We celebrated “just being there” where “making the podium” was victory and “bronze was the new gold.” And while there isn’t a fourth place medal at the Olympics, there have been plenty of spectacularly frustrating fourth place finishes over the years, including:
Roger Bannister was fourth in the 15,000 meters in the 1952 Helsinki games. He went on to become famous for being the first man to....