Premature Celebration Costs Oregon Runner His Victory
[hdplay id=162 width=700 height=500] EUGENE, Ore., April 13 (UPI) — A University of Oregon runner discovered the dangers of hubris when his premature celebration allowed a rival sprinter to pass him just before the finish line.Tanguy Pepiot said he thought the race was pretty much over during the steeplechase at The Pepsi Team Invitational during the weekend in Eugene, Ore., so he waved for the crowd to cheer louder.
However, the crowd’s roars turned out to be warning rather than celebration, as Pepiot’s celebratory waves slowed him down enough for the University of Washington’s Meron Simon to take the lead just before the finish line and win the race by a 10th of a second.
“I heard some noise,” Pepiot told the Eugene Register-Guard after the race at Hayward Field. “I was very surprised. Then I checked the screen, and I was like, ‘Whoa, somebody’s coming!'”
Surprise and disappointment were evident on Pepiot’s face after his last-second push for speed failed to stop Simon’s momentum.
“I thought he had me,” Simon said. “I thought he was just so far ahead. Then I heard the crowd get crazy, and he started throwing his hands up.”
“I was like, ‘I don’t think he knows I’m coming.’ I just went to the line and just raced,” he said.
“After the race, I was so jacked and throwing my hands up for my boys and teammates,” Simon said. “Then I looked back and was like, ‘Oh, I gotta go say something.’ I just felt for him.”
Pepiot said he learned his lesson from the experience.
“I think it was the first time it happened to me,” Pepiot said. “I’ll make sure it’s the last time.”
