Be a Sport!

Great Acts of Sportsmanship

Bobby Moore and Pele, two of the greatest footballers of all time show their

sporting respect for each other after a 1970 World Cup match in Mexico.

• Big G says:

• “Being a good sportsman is more important than winning.”

• 1956 Australian national championships

• During the third lap, 19-year-old Ron Clarke, who would go on to set 17

world records during his career, tripped and fell. • Landy, who was trailing close behind, leapt over Clarke and

accidentally scraped his rival’s arm with his spikes in the process. • Landy stopped running to make sure that Clarke wasn’t badly hurt

before resuming his chase of the pack that had charged ahead.

• To the amazement of everyone in the crowd, Landy came from behind to finish first in a time of 4 minutes, 4 seconds.

Today, a bronze statue in Melbourne commemorates Landy’s good deed It is called, simply, “Sportsmanship.”

• Michael Phelps is an American swimmer and the most successful Olympian of all time.

• He has a total of 22 Olympic medals …

• … 18 of them gold.

• At 19 superstar Michael Phelps took the swimming pool by storm in the 2004 Athens Games.

• Victory on the final stroke of the 100 metre butterfly sealed his fourth gold medal of the Games.

• Phelps had the chance to add another medal to his tally in the 4x100m medley relay as part of a strong US line-up, but announced he would step aside "to give a team-mate a chance”.

• At the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, Judy Guinness stood to become the first ever Briton to win fencing gold.

• She was just 21, so it would have been a remarkable achievement.

• After a closely contested final against Austrian Ellen Preis, Guinness was declared the winner by the judges, but she pointed out to them that they had missed two hits by her opponent.

• Guinness's honesty cost her the gold medal.

• Stirling Moss the British Grand Prix driver had a great rivalry with Mike Hawthorn in the 1950s.

• In the Portuguese GP in 1958 his rival Mike Hawthorn was about to be docked points after his car spun off the track.

• Moss, who had witnessed the incident, insisted at the post-race disciplinary tribunal that Hawthorn had done nothing wrong.

• Hawthorn was reprieved and beat Moss to the world title by a single point.

• Mallory Holtman and Sara Tucholsky were on opposing teams in a national softball game in 2008 when Tucholsky hit the first home run of her career.

• When she hurt her knee and was unable to run after crossing first base, Holtman and a teammate carried her around to home plate.

• If Sara Tucholsky’s own team mates had done this then she would have been out and the game would be lost.

• That amazing display of sportsmanship inspired Holtman and Tucholsky to create a foundation to help those in need.

• The Mallory Holtman and Sara Tucholsky Sportsmanship Foundation was created.

• In the 1969 Ryder Cup the USA and Britain were level at 15 and a half points each.

• On the last hole of the last match, America’s Jack Nicklaus holed his putt leaving Tony Jacklin to sink a tricky three footer to draw the match.

• Nicklaus made one of the great sporting gestures, picking up his opponent's ball marker rather than forcing Jacklin to putt out.

• Nicklaus told Jacklin: "I don't think you would have missed that Tony, but I didn't want to give you the chance."

It is not often you see players of opposing teams going out of their way to console one another after a game has ended. Their interaction is usually limited to a friendly handshake or pat on the back.

• Japan's Aya Miyama consoles dejected France player Camille Abilly at the end of their women's football semi-final, Japan v France at Wembley Stadium during the 2012 Olympic Games.

• In the 3rd Test Match of 2005 Ashes series, Australia needed 62 runs to win with one wicket left.

• Led by Brett Lee, they scored 58 of them …• … then Lee’s partner Michael Kasprovic was caught.• Ignoring the excitement of victory, England all-rounder

Andrew Flintoff consoled Brett Lee.• Flintoff explained: ‘I was taught as a kid always respect

the opposition first and celebrate after.’

• On Christmas Day in 1996, a month and a half into the round-the-world Vendee Globe yacht race, English sailor Pete Goss received a mayday notification.

• Competitor Raphael Dinelli’s yacht had wrecked in a storm in the Southern Ocean.

• Goss decided to abandon course and attempt a daring rescue of Dinelli, which required sailing his yacht, Acqua Quorom, into hurricane-force winds.

• While Goss’s yacht was knocked down several times en route, he eventually found Dinelli with the aid of an Australian Air Force plane.

• France awarded Goss

the Legion d’Honneur and the two men have become close friends.

• “ When the one great scorer, comes to count against your name, he counts not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game.”

• Grantland Rice – Grantland Rice – American sports writerAmerican sports writer

• As the great Olympian Jesse Owens who won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics said …

• “Sportsmanship takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow human being.

• Put all these together and even if you don’t win, how can you lose?”

• Jesse OwensJesse Owens