Fail – the most interesting, loaded, overstated word in sport

Fail. As words go, this one scares people. At an Asian Games years ago a Singapore athlete made an error and wept and officials initially resisted the idea of an interview. Failure had rattled them. But the athlete dried her eyes and came and spoke. No one mentioned the word, but she was slowly making peace with it. This is sport, it happens, she’d work harder tomorrow.

Not everyone is as brave when it comes to failure because the word has a bruising, bare-knuckle quality to it. It’s often loaded with accusation and used to imply inability. It’s uncomfortably negative and glibly overstated. For a word with four letters, it has a rare weight. It leads to anguish, the firing of coaches, investigations, books, psychology sessions and masterly monologues. This fortnight’s came from NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo.