So Close

Typically, there s only one way to win by being the best. But there are countless ways of having victory snatched from your grasp. Remember Pat Rafter s 2001 Wimbledon final against the enigmatic Goran Ivanisevic. Think of Allan Border and Jeff Thomson s titanic last-wicket partnership against England in 1982 that nearly won one of the closest-fought Tests ever.

Look no further than Australian walker Jane Saville, only a few hundred metres from a gold medal at Sydney 2000 when she was tragically disqualified. And yet, as Adam Scott shows, a devastating defeat can sometimes spur a champion on to glory.

From the calamitous to the hilarious, from the poignant to the absurd, sport is about so much more than gold medals, premiership trophies and urns filled with ashes. And in So Close, some of those sportspeople will finally get the recognition they deserve.

Patrick Mangan is a former soccer reporter for The Age and The Sunday Age and author of OFFSIDER: HOW A SCRAWNY POMMY KID LEARNED TO LOVE THE SOCCEROOS, published in 2010 by Melbourne University Press. He has contributed about sport to The Guardian, Inside Sport, the Qantas in-flight magazine and BBC Radio, among other media outlets. He is currently working as a Senior Editor at Random House and lives in Sydney.

Typically, there s only one way to win by being the best. But there are countless ways of having victory snatched from your grasp. Remember Pat Rafter s 2001 Wimbledon final against the enigmatic Goran Ivanisevic. Think of Allan Border and Jeff Thomson s titanic last-wicket partnership against England in 1982 that nearly won one of the closest-fought Tests ever. Look no further than Australian walker Jane Saville, only a few hundred metres from a gold medal at Sydney 2000 when she was tragically disqualified. And yet, as Adam Scott shows, a devastating defeat can sometimes spur a champion on to glory. From the calamitous to the hilarious, from the poignant to the absurd, sport is about so much more than gold medals, premiership trophies and urns filled with ashes. And in So Close , some of those sportspeople will finally get the recognition they deserve.

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