From Andre Agassi to Michael Phelps, champions who signed off on a low

By Apoorva Puranik

In an anti-climax, sprinter Usain Bolt, the fastest human in the world, ended his decorated career with a bronze medal in the world championship. A look at some other famous disappointing swansongs.

Abhinav Bindra

MISSING THE POINT


(Image: BCCL)

Having lost some of the best bets for medals early on, the country had pinned its hopes on India’s only individual Olympic gold winner — Abhinav Bindra— to get some bling to India’s lackluster campaign in Rio. The star shooter’s quest for a second Olympics medal ended in heartbreak as he missed by a whisker in a tense shoot-off in the men’s 10m air rifle event. Bindra had to settle for a fourth place with a score of 10.6 and 10.2. While it was widely known that this was to be Bindra’s last Olympics, he officially made the announcement the day after his loss. “It is time to move on and hand over the baton to the younger generation,” he said.

Andre Agassi

ON THE BACK OF A LOSS

In his 21-year tennis career that came to a close at the US Open in 2004, Agassi produced many a memorable match. In his last game though, he walked off the court with a heartbreaking loss to Germany’s Benjamin Becker. With a debilitating back injury, it was tough to see the American tennis star struggle, hobbling, grimacing and breathing hard, watching to see whether Becker’s shots landed good. When the match finished, Agassi sat courtside and put a towel to his face. He soon walked back onto the court and stuck to tradition by blowing kisses to all four ends of the stadium to an unending applause for a legend, who was a champion just till the end.

Sourav Ganguly

A HERO GOES FOR ZERO



The Prince of Kolkata had led Indian cricket through one of its worst times and made them a force to reckon with. The cricketer, who retired from international cricket in 2008, left behind large shoes for MS Dhoni to fill. He hung up his pads at Nagpur after captaining a victorious side against Australia, albeit with a duck under his belt. Then 36, when Ganguly walked in to bat in the second innings, the crowd chanted his name. His stumps were blown after the second ball, with no runs on his scoreboard. The chants continued as he made his way back to pavilion,one last time. Interestingly, Ganguly had scored a ton in his first-ever Test match.

Michael Phelps

PROPELLED OFF THE PODIUM

The shortest race in Phelps’s Olympic program, the 100 m butterfly, has always been his toughest. His three consecutive victories, starting at the 2004 Games in Athens, came by a total margin of 28-hundredths of a second. The 2016 Rio Olympics was Phelps’s swan song, in which he already had clinched four gold medals. However, the most-decorated Olympian was sent into a threeway tie for silver as 21-year-old Joseph Schooling (Singapore) got off to a blistering start, building a lead that not even Phelps could overcome. Phelps said he relished watching the generation he inspired thrive in Rio. “Daring kids to dream — that’s the only reason why I’m here,” he said after giving Joseph a heart-warming hug.

Don Bradman

DON-A-DUCK

Don Bradman’s final Test innings at The Oval in 1948 remains one of cricket’s most famous. It was the fifth Test match of the Ashes series in England, when Bradman came to the crease to a standing ovation after a strong opening stand of 117 runs. He needed to score four runs to become the first player to retire with a threedigit batting average. He was dismissed for a second-ball duck by Eric Hollies before he could do the maths. The legend walked back with the crowd rising in deafening applause. And Hollies turned to team mate Jack Crapp — “Best f*****g ball I’ve bowled all season, and they’re clapping him.”.