Sad stories in sport...

Bosko Balaban

Chris Walker missing out on being British Superbike Champion in 2000.

His bike broke down with just 3 laps to go in the final race of the season. I think he only had to finish in the top 5 to win the title.

He sobbed his heart out all the way back to the pits. It was heartbreaking for him. I doubt he will ever get over it

robin van persie (i'm a gooner )

Forest appointing McCleish as manager

Brindisi Breeze (RIP) and Campbell Gillies (RIP)

Brindisi Breeze (RIP) and Campbell Gillies (RIP)

chelski champions league winners

Roy Jones Jr 1988 Seoul Olympics

The greatest goalscorer i have ever seen missing out in 66,funny old game.

Don Fox.

Though replaced by the only person to score a hat trick in the final, agreed it affected   Greavsie badly & he  never really  got over it.

Valirimix in the Champion Hdl

Benny  'Kid' Parrett vs Emile Griffith
Nigel Benn v Gerald McLellan
Chris Eubank v Michael Watson
Crisp v Red Rum
Mark Vivien Foe
Albert Johanneson both his career and aftermath

Joey Dunlop/ Robert Dunlop RIP

Ivo Van Damme
Payne Stewart

Gloria Victis RIP

Not sure about that pumphol,he was apparently on the booze already and the goals never dried up and he also made a pretty good career for himself when he dried out although it certainly did Hurst no harm,a knighthood ffs! and this 10 year old at the time certainly never got over it.

Johnny Herbert on the verge of taking the world by the scruff through the junior formulae before horrific smash in 1988. Still had a long time in F1 and 3 wins but after the crash not quite the same driver again

Gazza

v sad steamship

Zenyatta losing her unbeaten record at the 2010 BC due to jockey error - worse than Starkey's Derby ride on the Brave - also heart-breaking.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oXuO-dbJks

Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima being attacked by a defrocked Irish priest when about to win the Olympic gold medal in Athens. You would have to have a heart of stone not to feel for the man at the time.

True, but that and Redmond are not so much sad stories but triumphant ones, where people took defeat and rose above it.

Crisp in the 1973 Grand National

and agree with slippyblue

Alex Higgins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8mzeRVuDBU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QmBgOxZZVU

Lillian Board, the GB silver medal winner in the 400m at just 19 years of age at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and double gold medalist at the 1969 European championships.

She was the original 'golden girl' of British sport in the television age.

I remember her being interviewed on Parkinson and she seemed like a cracking lass.

She was unfortunately diagnosed with rectal cancer in September 1970 and was dead by December 1970.
She was 22 years old.

Gail Devers almost became the first person to win the Olympic 100m and 100m hurdles double. She was clear of the field coming to the last hurdle but fell and finished fifth.

Fatalities apart..... Ardfert Mick was 8 lengths clear with 30 yards to run in the Scottish Derby Final... His leg broke!!!

Agree with Tommy Toes.

I don't remember the 68 Olympics as before my time but I read somewhere that she was also a brilliant 200m runner and her coach thought she would later move up and dominate middle distance running as well i.e. 800m, 1500m or 1600m (whichever one existed then). As far as I'm aware no other athlete has ever competed at the top level over that variety of distances.

On a purely 'sport' note I thought Jean Van de Velde's meltdown a few years back was quite sad

Baldwin65, Lillian is only just within my memory banks(I was a very young kid at the time) but I do recall what a terrific athlete she was - and how she was held in such affection by the public.

Her Wiki entry is good reading. I didn't know that she was engaged to David Emery:

Achievements

Year    Tournament    Venue    Event    Result    Extra
1968    Summer Olympics    Mexico City, Mexico    400 m    2nd    UK record (52.12)
1969    European Championships    Athens, Greece    800 metres    1st    Championship record (2:01.4)
1969    European Championships    Athens, Greece    4 x 400 metres    1st    World record (3:30.8)
Won six titles at the WAAA's Championships, including the 440 yds title in 1967.
Set 11 UK records, including a 400 m record of 52.12 in 1968.
Won the 400 m at the final of the 1967 European Cup (athletics), Britain's only winner in the final.
Helped set four relay world records (at 4 x 110 yds, 4 x 400 m (twice) and 4 x 800 m) between September 1968 and June 1970, running the anchor/last leg each time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Board

Not much I dont recall about sport but never heard that story Tommy.....thanks

You're welcome, Howdi.

Here's Lillian's silver medal run in the 1968 Olympics. Just pipped for gold on the line:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A3ryJX4aFc

Derek Redmond ffs,get a grip and read about Lillian Board and educated yourself.

that injury to redmond was awful would have finished 6th without it

Tommy - Thanks for posting those figures.

Looks like she also ran a mean 100m (110yds) as well which makes her range of distances unbelievable (top level competitor at every distance from 100m to 800m) by the age of 22.

I don't know of any other athlete who has covered that range of distances at top level.

I think cancer robbed her (and us) of a phenomenal athlete .....

Also, I remember Emery (he may have been mentioned on an earlier Superstars thread) - if so, (the 400 hurdler?) - punching well above his weight!!

Me managing to get Michael Campbell in to 1-33 twice in running and get beaten both times.

One Man at Aintree

one man was awful

explain the 1-33 story please khan

It doesn't get much worse than the death of Roger Williamson in the Dutch GP despite David Purley's efforts to save him.

In the non-fatality category it has to be Baggio missing the penalty in the 1994 World Cup final. He carried Italy to the final and shouldn't have played through injury but lasted the 120 minutes. Even if he had scored Brazil still would've had a penalty to win it. Despite all that he is remembered by many for missing that penalty which is a sad way for such a great player to be remembered.

George Washington at Monmouth

Just golf punting Howdi in the days before laying off on here, not that I very often do! I was expecting more tales of Chit Chat punting woe littering this thread!

Germany beating France in the 82 World Cup semi was an injustice, but probably the best and certainly one of the most dramatic football matches I've seen.

I recall a very decent sprinter or Richard Hannon's called Mr Brooks running in the Breeders Cup under Lester being the worst example of a horse breaking down I've seen

The girl that pipped Lillian Board to a Gold in Mexico, sadly succumbed to cancer also.

The incomparable Ali going to the well once too often with early stage Parkinsons against a fighter who went on to prove his own greatness in Holmes sitting on his stool at the end of the 10th with nothing left to give while Bundini and Dundee argued about whether he should go on. Thankfully Dundee prevailed. He was still stupid enough to get in with Berbick afterwards as well.

Synchronised

Apollo Creed

The death on the pitch of Hungarian footballer Miklós "Miki" Fehér who played for Benfica.

Very sad. Be warned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAVo1G5utf8

I remember Lillian Board,as tommy toes says she really was a golden girl.Her fight with cancer was well chronicled for those times as i remember her going to a swiss clinic as a last resort treatment.However it was a different David Emery she was engaged to,no H should have been the giveaway,he was a sports journalist and i remember him telling the story of how they met,he was at some function where sports stars were in attendance and him and his mate though it would be fun to ask the 2 of the girls stars for a dance,he asked Board and his pal danced with Virginia Wade!
I also recall her dad george was her coach.Great girl.

McKayla Maroney, the American gymnast with the misspelled name whose disappointment at only getting silver went viral, as the cool kids and marketing geeks say. She fell on one of her vaults but was so far ahead she still won silver. She'd also broken a toe which ruled her out of the floor stuff.

Nick Dundee, Sun Alliance Cheltenham

Premier Fantasy breaking his hock when well clear into the bend in the English Greyhound Derby semi final, he would have done the clock that night i have no doubt

Just read the Lillian Board story, very sad.

Lillian Board's biography, 'Lilian' by David Emery (not Hemery), is an excellent read.

Lillian was a hugely talented athlete who, despite never reaching her peak, achieved a great deal in a variety of events in a very short time. An inspirational, charismatic figure, her premature death was a huge loss to British and world sport.


Here she is, aged just 20, winning two golds in thrilling style at the 1969 Euros:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBqUn39p0Go


You won't see a more exciting finish than that relay. Amazing!

Has to be Don Fox in '68

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eer30sfqgkk

Just read about Lillian Board very sad story and reminded me of one of my hero's in Paul Hunter who of course was also taken by cancer.

Ribero1, thanks for clearing it up about Lillian being engaged top David Emery a journalist, not David Hemery the athlete.

It was with the clip of her running the 400m in Mexico being commented on by David the hurdler which confused matters, as I always thought his name was spelt with an aitch!

Fantastic finish to the relay by Lillian, Nirvana.

It really was very sad that such a talented athlete, not even at her peak but who had already achieved so much, died at such a young age.

Steamship: yes, similar cases, both very sad indeed.

Tom: I'm sure you're not the first or last person to be confused by DE and DH being virtual namesakes.

Thank goodness, that mean's I'm not, either!

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the death of Jock Stein, on the night that the Scotland team he managed qualified for the 1986 World Cup

Yes, Tom, a real tragedy. What she did in Athens was just a hint at what more she could have achieved had she been able to have a full career.

For example, it would have been very interesting to see how she developed as a 1500m/mile runner. In 1970 in only her second, and last, race at a mile, she went to No 2 in the UK all-time list. With her speed, stamina and finishing kick, she had the main attributes to be a middle distance great.

Devon Loch

Cheers tommy,i haven't googled him but it wouldn't surprise me if emery still worked as a journalist,i seem to recall an article i read of his not long ago,i also remember that he got romantically involved with lillian's sister a while after her death although i don't think they ended up together.I did google board and it was obviously a german clinic not swiss as i thought and as you pointed out from diagnosis to her death was amazingly short,amazing how things have moved on,you would like to think she would have had a fair chance of beating the disease now,anyhow full marks for remembering her,a great girl.

David Emery (not Hemery) married Lillian's twin sister Irene in 1974. He's currently editor-in-chief of sports newspapers such as the Football League Paper and the Cricket Paper.

Mention of Roger Williamson earlier brought to mind the death of the Welsh racing driver Tom Pryce in the 1977 South African Grand Prix, such a promising career cut short by the terrible accident which killed him and a young marshall.

Footage of the accident is easily found on the net, but the description itself is powerful enough....



The Welshman's DN8 made a poor start to the Grand Prix and by the end of the first lap was in last place. Pryce started to climb back up the field during the next couple of laps, overtaking Brett Lunger and team mate Renzo Zorzi on lap two, and Alex Ribeiro and Boy Hayje the following lap. By lap 18 Pryce had moved from 22nd to 13th place.


On lap 21, Zorzi pulled off to the left side of the main straight, just after the brow of a hill and a bridge over the track. The Italian was having problems with his fuel metering unit, and fuel was pumping directly onto the engine, which then caught fire. Zorzi did not immediately get out of his car as he was experiencing trouble in disconnecting the oxygen pipe from his helmet.

The situation caused two marshals from the pit wall on the opposite side of track to intervene. The first marshal to cross the track was a 25-year old panel beater named William (Bill). The second was 19-year old Frederik Jansen Van Vuuren, commonly known as Jansen Van Vuuren, who was carrying a 40 lb fire extinguisher.

George Witt, the chief pit marshal for the race, said that the policy of the circuit was that in circumstances involving fires, two marshals must attend and a further two act as back-up in case their extinguishers were not effective enough. Witt also recalled that both Bill and Van Vuuren crossed the track without prior permission.

The former only just made it safely across the track, but the latter did not. As the two young men started to run across the track, four cars driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck, Pryce, Jacques Laffite and Gunnar Nilsson were exiting the final corner and coming onto the main straight.

"As we got to the top I suddenly sensed this marshal running across the track from my right, carrying an extinguisher. I took a big chance and I don't know how I got away with it. There was no time, I just reacted on pure instinct."

Hans-Joachim Stuck


Pryce was directly behind Stuck's car along the main straight, Stuck himself sensed Van Vuuren and moved to the right to avoid both marshals, missing Bill by what Tremayne reports to have been a matter of "millimetres".

From his position directly behind Stuck, Pryce could not see Van Vuuren and was unable to react as quickly as Stuck had done. He struck the teenage marshal at approximately 270 km/h (170 mph). Van Vuuren was thrown into the air and landed yards in front of Zorzi and Bill. He died upon impact, his body being literally torn in half by Pryce's car.

The fire extinguisher he had been carrying smashed into Pryce's head, before striking the Shadow's roll hoop. The force of the impact was such that the extinguisher was thrown up and over the adjacent grandstand. It came to ground in the car park to the rear of the stand, where it hit a parked car and jammed its door shut.

The impact with the fire extinguisher had wrenched Pryce's helmet upward sharply, and he had been partially decapitated by the strap. Death was almost certainly instantaneous.

Pryce's Shadow DN8, now with its driver dead at the wheel, continued at speed down the main straight towards the first corner, called Crowthorne. The car left the track towards the right, scraping the metal barriers before veering back onto the track after hitting an entrance for emergency vehicles.

It then hit Jacques Laffite's Ligier, sending both Pryce and Laffite head-on into the barriers. Van Vuuren's injuries were so severe that, initially, his body was only identified after the race director had summoned all of the race marshals and he was not among them.

Saw the film of Tom Pryce  & the marshall on youtube a couple of years back, very sobering viewing

Thanks nirvana,crikey never realised they got wed,nice that something good came out of the tragedy.

Isabel Tompsett, who was crushed by a horse in a fall at Fakenham in May 2011.
Lucky to have survived it.
Can't find footage on youtube.

always thought johnny owen was tragic, remember interview with him on sportsnight week or so before his last fight.

a little bit trivial considering some of the more recent entries, but i cant tell you how much i wanted jimmy to win at the crucible

although i hear hes been banging them in in practice this year

Jan 7, 2013 -- 8:33PM, SqueezeFirmly wrote:

Isabel Tompsett, who was crushed by a horse in a fall at Fakenham in May 2011.Lucky to have survived it.Can't find footage on youtube.

Was a feature on Isabel on C4 racing on new years day I think,an interesting watch-may still be on iplayer.They showed the fall a couple of times.

It doesn't get much worse than the death of Roger Williamson in the Dutch GP despite David Purley's efforts to save him.

Spot on. I'm not much of a motorsport fan but that was both awful and in an odd way life affirming in the way that Purley went in to try to save him.

The reluctance of anyone else to help is shocking. Anyone who thinks we value life less these days needs to watch that video...or even just look at the stats on F1 deaths.

Well I think the Williamson/Purley affair and Lilian Board are the winners so far.  Purley won the george cross, apparently that was the only fire extinguisher and he used it all up and with the fire still foing he knew the game was up, the other people didnt have fire resistant suits on.  Took 8 minutes before a fire truck got to him, all terribly sad, hard to believe such organisational incompetence nowadays, having said that it is, and definitely was, a v dangerous sport and they knew it.  Lilian Board is sadder still, what a loss.  And why isnt she more famous?  Ive only ever heard her mentioned on here, cant recall hearing her name anywhere else, or in the papers or on tv or anything.  That relay win was immense.

rob,She was very well known at the time.I've been heavily involved with Athletics for about 55 years and still have a recollection of her being caught on the line by Colette Besson in Mexico.Tommy Toes initial post brought tears to my eyes.

I was a huge formula 1 fan when I was little and Senna was my hero. I lost interest after he was killed and have taken no notice of it at all in over a decade. Senna's death is worth a mention but the Williamson incident is off the scale even by F1 standards. It was made worse by Purley dying aged 40 in a plane crash.

I saw it in a BBC programme 'Grand Prix - The Killer Years' which is a brilliant, if sobering watch. You should all keep an eye out for that, aswell as a similar (and well named) programme about 1980s rallying 'Madness On Wheels.'

Some unbelieveable stories about how it was back then. Jackie Stewart came out of it with alot of credit. He was brave to demand changes.

Going slightly off topic, I watched the recent documentary about Stirling Moss. After watching The Killer Years, I was surprised to hear Moss confidently state that nothing would ever have happened to him if he had been able to race longer.

I'd guess that believing nothing would happen to you to be a key 'qualification' in the sport. Not correct of course, but if you think 'Am I going to die today?' you're not going to win. The figures are shocking though. Life expectancy was 7 years for a rookie driver I think I read?

I grew up in the seventies, and people thought nothing of driving home pissed from the pub. I know we think we're covered in cotton wool these days, but Jeeez!

Rob, as Ribero1 and Iamajambo have mentioned, Lillian was very known between 1967 to 1970 as she was such an outstanding young talent.
Think of Jess Ennis now - only possibly more so.

She was feted by all at the time and as I mentioned previously, she was on the Michael Parkinson show when it was theshow to be seen on.
I've looked on YouTube to see if the interview of her is there, but alas, it isn't.

Her cancer diagnosis came as a huge shock to all and was the main story in all the newspapers (and on tv) for the last few, tragic months she was alive, with everyone hoping that she'd somehow manage to miraculously overcome it.

News of her death on Boxing Day 1970, just 13 days after her 22nd birthday, came as a terrible blow to all (the Queen even sent a message of sympathy to her family) - and she was mourned for a long time afterwards.

Regular mentions of her were always made by the likes of David Coleman and Ron Pickering in athletics coverage long after her untimely death.
I think I also heard someone (Brendan Foster perhaps?) mention Lillian as being the original young star of the track in relation to Jess being the 'golden girl' of athletics now, at this year's Olympics.

But yes, it is sad that she isn't remembered even more.
She really was a shooting star of athletics at the time - and a very nice person too.

Here's a nice piece about her, the first paragraph which reads:

The Tragic Heroine

"It has been said that sporting heroes and heroines are not supposed to die, particularly when they are at the height of their success and fame. Lillian Board was one such person who had achieved so much so young, who had been part of so many classic races and who, 13 days after her 22 nd birthday, was lost to this world. In athletics terms, it was not so much what she had won, it was what she might have won in the years ahead."

http://www.uka.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/lillian-board/

Well I am a pretty avid follower of sport and much of its history.  Not an athletics guru but know the basics.  I started a thread a few years back about the top 20 british sportswomen of all time, I didnt put Board in because I hadnt heard of her.  Everyone put me right.  Having read her wiki page it seems ridiculous that she isnt mentioned more.  Or that during the olympics there wasnt a "remember her..." article in one of the broadsheets or something.  I honestly cant recall ever seeing her name mentioned in a newspaper, and I am an avid reader of the sports pages.  A real shame, goodness knows what she could have achieved.

By the way, it was a nice touch by the Germans that they named an avenue after Lillian which led to the Munich Olympic Stadium - as the '72 Olympics were expected to be 'hers'.

That's a shame Rob, that you don't recall seeing her mentioned in the newspapers.
She really should be more revered and people under 40 ought to know more about her.

It's a shame SPOTY haven't designed an award presented in her honour, as they did with Helen Rollason.

Perhaps they could rectify this?

"The Lillian Board Trophy, a memorial trophy provided by Irene Board and by Dame Marea Hartman, Chairwoman of the Woman's Commission of the IAAF and of the Women's AAA following Board's death is awarded each year for outstanding fundraising for cancer." Is one trophy awarded each year in her honour, but it doesn't get much publicity.

I was thinking that, would be a bit harsh to rename the HR award, but it seems LB is more deserving.

Aye, you couldn't really rename it, but what about another award under Lillian's name for say outstanding young talent, or something?

They could have named something after her at the olympics, a stand, or even a stadium, or a sculpture or an avenue or something.

Tommy-Parkinson didnt air until 1971 ,6 months after Lillian died.That is probably the reason you cant find it.

She was on question of sport, but that was in the days when the beeb, in their infinite wisdom, deleted some stuff to save money.  That episode was deleted.

out of total interest how did her times stack in comparoson with todays british athletes?

Yes Rob - they should have done (re the Olympics).
Very lax of Smarmy Seb not to think of doing so, as he surely must have remembered her.

Haha! Never, Roy!
I distinctly remember her talking to him!

Thanks, Tommy T - I have a vague memory of her death being annouced on ITN - I was only eight and sports mad at the time - it must have made an impression on my consciousness because it was so sad.

One other worth mentioning is the death of Tommy Simpson in the Tour De France in 1967 I think (don't remember that one but have read about it and seen old footage of him on the climb).

Well well well, I've just Googled and it says Parkinson didn't air until 1971.

Apologies for the mistake - but I'm sure I saw it!

I wonder if it was another chat show - or a part of one year's SPOTY where they used to do one-on-one interviews (like Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill used to do)?

Her death was the front page lead of the Daily Mirror as I remember.

Howdi, Lillians PBs were:

Personal bests

Event    Mark    Year
100 m    11.9    1969
200 m    23.42    1968
400 m    52.12    1968
800 m    2:01.4    1969
Mile    4:44.6    1970
Long Jump    5.80 m    1965
Notes
1 mile (4:46.6). Only competed in this event twice (in 1970).
Long Jump (5.80 m). Did not compete in this event after 1967.

Nirvana is the Olympics/athletics expert who can provide stats for comparisons (I can't find them, despite looking!)

Yes ReeseHeath, Tommy Simpson's death on Mont Ventoux was very sad too.

It was a remarkable coincidence (and perhaps apt?) that Davis Millar won that day's stage at this year's Tour de France on the anniversary of Tom's death and paid a very nice tribute to Tom.
Remorse for Millar's previous failings (which were Tommy's too) also being given due regard.

As Steamship mentioned earlier too, Paul Hunter's death was also a very sad loss to the world of snooker.

*David Millar