Athletes Who Sacrificed Their Wins For Something Even Greater

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

The late NFL-coaching great Vince Lombardi once said, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." Unsurprisingly, he wasn't alone in that mindset within the cutthroat sporting world, where players resort to any and everything to win. That sports serve as a metaphor for warfare hasn't been lost on bona fide battalions, such as the British Army, which long believed that top-grade athletes would demonstrate similar prowess as soldiers. Yet among civilian combatants, such conflict is seldom personal unless genuine hatred exists between opponents. When Buffalo Bills' safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest in an NFL match against the Cincinnati Bengals in late 2023, the scoreboard became irrelevant as attention shifted towards the well-being of the player, while referees canceled the rest of the game.

Winning might be a value, but it's not a virtue. Sometimes, situations force athletes to decide whether to keep an eye on the prize or sacrifice a victory simply because it's the right thing to do. After American Formula One driver Brett Lunger saved the life of a rival, he simply said, "It was a situation where something had gone wrong, and you react and do what you have to do," per Autoweek. Such split-second decisions may not result in gold medals, shiny trophies, or Super Bowl rings, but as the following accounts will show, top dogs may win most of the time, but those exemplifying genuine sportsmanship make for even more outstanding champions.

Credit the Brits for managing to assemble an Olympic-caliber bobsledding contingent, considering their surroundings lack the elevation to facilitate a track for such a sport. But when a tandem outfit from that team does well enough to win a gold medal, as was the case in 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria, some of those kudos should be directed towards the Italians. After all, that country's bobsledding elite selflessly invited the Great Britain duo of Robin Dixon and Tony Nash to train with them in Cervinio a year earlier.

Dixon and Nash made the most of the invitation to the point where they were high-ranking competitors once they hit the Olympics. In fact, after their first run, the Brits were leading the pack. But when they noticed a bolt securing the runners to the bottom of their sled was missing, the two felt their chances at gold were dashed. Meanwhile, the Italians had placed close to the top and could have used Dixon and Nash's misfortune as an opportunity to climb higher in the ranks. Instead, Italian teammate Eugenio Monti got the Brits a spare bolt so they could continue competing. In the end, Great Britain won gold, while Italy settled for bronze. But Monti received something extra: a Pierre de Coubertain medal for his sportsmanship in helping his rivals win. "[Monti] was a wonderful man and a great friend," said Nash (via Olympics). "In fact, all the Italians were our friends."

While defending his world championship title in 1976, Austrian Formula One driver Niki Lauda was in formidable form. But almost tragically, he met his match on Germany's intimidating Nurburgring course, a circuit that's claimed the lives of up to 70 competitors and test drivers. That year, Lauda almost added to those morbid stats when his Ferrari overshot a turn, bounced off the retaining wall, and spun out of control on the track. U.S. driver Brett Lunger collided with Lauda's burning vehicle, while three other competitors (Guy Edwards, Harald Ertl, and Arturo Merzarlo) opted against trying to win the German Grand Prix to help Lauda, pinned in the burning vehicle. Hampered by the smoke and flames, the four drivers managed to disengage Lauda's safety belt and harness to carry him to safety. Lauda suffered third-degree burns to his face and damage to his lungs but was alive.

"Niki was lucky because the pain of the flames and the gas fumes made him pass out," recalled Merzarlo to F1 Memories. "With his body relaxed, I could take his belt out in a tenth of a second." Ironically, Lauda was trying to persuade drivers to boycott the Nurburgring event on the grounds that the circuit was unsafe but was outvoted. Miraculously, he was back in his Ferrari later that season and would win two more world championships later in his career. But the 1976 near-tragedy marked the last time Formula One would ever race at Nurburgring.

For more than two decades, NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt earned his racing stripes as "The Intimidator" for his aggressive approach on the track. But on February 18, 2001, the 7-time series champion employed those same talents to defend his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., via a benevolent action that would cost him his life. That day, Earnhardt was competing in NASCAR's flagship Daytona 500 and, with a couple of laps remaining, had pushed himself through heavy traffic to grab third place, trailing his son and Michael Waltrip, Dale Jr.'s teammate. Rather than overtake the two, the 49-year-old stayed behind to protect their track positions. But in the final turn of the race, a bump between Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin sent the legend into the wall. For Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr., who finished first and second, respectively, the results were bittersweet once they learned that Dale Sr. died instantly in the crash.

Fans across the country mourned the loss on what was one of NASCAR's darkest days, but nobody took the tragedy harder than Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Having dad was like a cheat sheet," Earnhardt Jr. told ESPN. "Having dad was like knowing all the answers to everything. And I was like, man, I'm going to have to do this without that the rest of my life." After coming to terms with his loss, Earnhardt Jr. did very well for himself, winning 27 races, including two Daytona 500 titles, before he retired in 2017.

Some victories are easier to swallow than others. A win based solely on ability is worth celebrating, although success based on technicality isn't so easily embraced. That's what faced U.S. sprinter Shawn Crawford, who fell short of a medal by finishing fourth in the men's 200-meter dash at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But fate intervened when officials disqualified second- and third-place finishers Churandy Martina and Wallace Spearmon for stepping out of their lanes during the race, won by Jamaica's Usain Bolt. As a result, Shawn Crawford found a silver medal, which he could have kept for bragging rights. Instead, while at a track meet in Switzerland a year later, Crawford placed the medal in a box, which he left for Martina at a hotel where he was staying. He added a note that read: "You ran a silver-medal race and deserve this medal."

It was Crawford's way of righting what he felt was an injustice to his Netherland Antilles opponent, who had previously failed to overturn the ruling in an appeal. "I'm like, if a guy is 10 meters in front of me, I don't care if he stayed in the middle of his lane," Crawford told the Associated Press. "He was going to beat me anyway. He didn't impede in anybody's race." In 2013, Crawford became front-page news again after U.S. officials banned the athlete from competition for two years after failing to comply with dope-testing requests.

With a $1,000 cash prize up for grabs in Maine's 2017 staging of the 10K Beach to Beacon long-distance running competition, the smart money among male athletes seemed to be on contender Jesse Orach. For the previous four years, the University of Maine student garnered impressive numbers, with several first-place and podium finishes in everything from cross-country to indoor and outdoor track competitions. To top it off, Orach was also the Beach to Beacon event's defending champion. And for much of the race, Orach was true to his stats, galloping in front of the pack. But with roughly 100 yards left to go, Orach collapsed when his weakened legs couldn't take much more. Enter cross-country veteran Rob Lopez, who was about to pass a worn-out Orach for the win when he did something extraordinary.

For that crucial final leg, Lopez helped Orach get up and carried him to the finish line. Once Orach crossed the line first, Lopez let go of his opponent, who plopped to the ground like a rag doll. After the race, Lopez made no bones about his decision to forego a championship opportunity in favor of assisting a competitor. "In the running community, I feel camaraderie comes before competitiveness," Lopez told ABC News. "I think it should always be like that. And Jesse's a great runner and even better guy." A grateful Orach said to the Portland Press Herald, "I'm speechless with what he did."