On the evening of the medal race during the 2012 London Olympics, a savvy Dún Laoghaire Yacht Club member had reserved an entire restaurant in Weymouth for partying, irrespective of the race’s result. The chances were high. The sailing competitions span several days and all through the week, Annalise Murphy had held on to a medal-winning position. Fans from her homeland started gathering, carried along by the excitement. “Murphy’s Army” was boldly displayed on the t-shirts that were produced.
At a tender age of 22, while participating in her debut Olympics, there was no burden of anticipation, till anticipation was the sole sentiment she had. Murphy entered the medal race in the position to win bronze, and due to her commendable performance in the qualifying races, the lowest she could finish was fourth.
In the Olympics, a stopwatch or points score depicts the difference between third and fourth, but that’s a misleading representation: the gap between them is monumental. In the final stretch of the last race, Murphy tumbled off the podium.
Tricolours adorned the Weymouth restaurant, filled with those sending their good wishes. In countless ways, the week was a success and the celebrations continued, unfazed. A local, observing this lavish celebration approached Murphy.
“He suggested I must’ve secured the gold,” Murphy remembers. “My response was, ‘No, I actually came fourth.’ And he remarked, ‘Seems like a grand party for coming fourth.'”
Murphy lived with her fourth-place finish for a few months before she unveiled the superficial chatter and cliches. She consulted with Darragh Sheridan, a sports psychologist from the Institute of Sport, and they isolated and analysed the repercussions of the race. Then, Murphy viewed the race, to face it in a way.
“It seemed as if someone else was in the boat,” she expresses. “It wasn’t me. During the down winds, it seemed as if a novice had been thrust in. It appeared as if I was petrified in the boat.”
Recollections of embarking on a journey at sea remain, afflicted by an unidentifiable feeling of unease. Even the mental dialogue of questioning one’s state seemed too foreboding a confrontation. Consequently, no self-admissions were made about not feeling up to scratch.
The rapid pace at the windward leg of the course saw a triumphal lead at the first buoy. Yet, coming downwind, a paralysing uncertainty took hold, overtaken by other seafarers, to finish last at the base buoy. It’s under these high-stress situations that critical actions fail to be executed.
Such an incident left a haunting residue, resulting in introspection about potentially squandering a singular chance at Olympic glory. The narrative brought about reflections on society’s tendency to stereotype. Westerns, for example, stereotypically feature villains clad in black hats, with no shades of grey. The same unambiguous depiction is applied to fourth position, but should it always bear such a negative implication?
In the Beijing Olympics of 2008, Eoin Rheinisch finished fourth in the canoe slalom. However, four years prior in Athens, despite being the world’s sixth-ranked competitor and established as a prospective medallist, his performance was disappointing, managing only the 21st spot out of 20 semi-finalists.
Despite the setback, he still had the trust and support of key figures in his federation and Sport Ireland. In the final year leading to the Beijing Olympics, his sponsorship surpassed that of any other Irish athlete. His initial failure was thoroughly analysed, not discarded, with every aspect considered for improvement.
Rheinisch acknowledges being ill-equipped for the auditory onslaught of cheering crowds in Athens. In preparation for Beijing, he and his sports psychologist, Brendan Hackett, devised a training regimen involving exposure to recorded crowd noise with the aid of a waterproof MP3 player.
His strategy for the Olympics was to maintain calmness, although it led to complacency in his first run. Despite this, he didn’t descend into panic as he had done previously in Athens. The turbulent emotions were managed, maintaining focus and calm.
He barely made it to the final, landing in the 10th slot. Being the last qualifier, Rheinisch was the first to compete in the final round where his performance was extraordinary. Although he was leading the race until there were five competitors left, he was barely hanging on to a bronze medal by the time the last competitor was up.
Rheinisch recalls watching the entire race from the finish line. He remembered a point where he thought his competitor had made a serious mistake, but managed to hold on. Commenting on the intense heat in Beijing, he mentioned they would use wet towels kept in ice-filled cooler boxes for relief. Upon crossing the finish line, he immersed his head in one to conceal his emotions.
His 4th place finish was framed as a positive story. There was encouragement in the fact that he started as the 10th and managed to take lead. It was regarded as an impressive feat in the canoe slalom event, attracting spotlight for a brief period in the early Olympic schedule. Rheinisch received no condolences, only congratulations.
However, Rheinisch admits that the experience was bittersweet. His return home was followed by disappointment settling in. Despite the undivided attention he received from media in Beijing, he felt his relevance fade as soon as the boxing medals started coming in for Ireland. Public interest shifted towards medal winners, leaving him retreating into the background.
He tried to convince himself to be content with his performance, yet his emotions fluctuated. At times, he saw his performance as commendable, at others, he felt a pang of regret for not having won a medal.
On the other hand, Seán Drea, Ireland’s prominent rower in the 70s, had a dissimilar experience. He was making waves in Irish rowing three decades before any Irish crew claimed an Olympic medal. His silver medal victory at the 1974 world championships signified a new era in Irish rowing.
Having participated in four previous Olympic Games and bagging just one bronze medal among the 164 competitors, Ireland had maintained expectations for a triumphant return from the Montreal Games in 1976. Eamonn Coghlan and Drea, who were favoured to bring home medals, both ended up in fourth place.
Despite the odds, Drea entered the semi-final displaying peak performance, where he accomplished a new world record. According to him, breaking the world record was a necessity given the intense competition. Recalling his disappointing experience in Munich 1972, where he fell short of the final by a single spot, he was determined not to let history repeat itself.
Drea emphasises the importance of reaching the final. He expressed skepticism towards those who fantasise about winning medals, yet fail to even get past the preliminary stages. To guarantee his spot in the final, he had to make his move with just 500 metres left, a tactic aimed at avoiding the potential pitfalls of missing out by a fraction of a second. He had dedicated four years to training for that very day.
Although the final did not yield the expected results as he failed to duplicate his semi-final performance. When asked if he had peaked too early, Drea disagreed. He explained that athletes aren’t machines who can deliver the same level of performance consistently. The final was so exhausting for him that he could hardly think of anything but the daunting prospect of falling into the water, due to the intense exhaustion that incapacitated his limbs.
He recalled the last stretch of the race being the most challenging. He was in the position for a bronze medal until the last 500 metres, which completely exhausted him. He ended up in fourth place, a position he found the hardest, dismisses the speculation that finishing farther behind would’ve been easier. He explained that his aim had always been to win gold and doesn’t regret giving his best.
Post the 1977 world championships, Drea retired from rowing, whereas Rheinisch pushed on for another Olympic cycle, ending up 14th in London. Moreover, Murphy who was predicted to win a gold in the London Olympic cycle, eventually managed to secure a silver in Rio.
“Approaching the final race for the medal, one can’t avoid feeling tension and apprehension about potentially being in the fourth position again,” reflects Murphy. However, I have learned to manage these emotions differently. Rather than bottling up my fears and avoiding interaction, I decided to be more open. My coach was the first one I confessed my utter dread to. Simply voicing my fear aloud seemed to alleviate the stress somewhat. I needed to see the situation as an opportunity – something which I failed to see during my time in London. All I could envision then was the bleak prospect of securing the fourth spot. On the contrary, I view Rio as an extraordinary chance.
“London still haunts my thoughts. A part of me wonders whether securing a medal then would have fuelled my belief in being one of the finest in my field. Instead, I had to reconstruct my faith in myself and ponder whether I was competent enough to succeed. The efforts I put in to prepare for Rio were relatively more than what most would consider reasonable. Had I not placed fourth in London, I might never have exerted that amount of effort.”
So, what did coming in fourth signify?