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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 3739710, member: 289"] 1960: The USA's John Thomas, the first high jumpers to clear 7 feet, is the heavy favorite to win at the Rome Olympics but he finished third to two Russians. This is at the height of the Cold War. “I gained a lot by not finishing first. If I’d won, I never would have learned as much about people as I did. Losing didn’t bother me. But what did bother me was, a lot of people who were around me suddenly disappeared. That was the first time I learned people didn't like me. They only like winners. they don't give credit to a man for trying. I was called a quitter, a man with no heart. it made me sick. American spectators are frustrated athletes. In the champion, they see what they'd like to be. In the loser, they see what they actually are and they treat him with scorn." [/QUOTE]