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Fleet and spectator boats follow Oracle Team USA as it celebrates its victory over Emirates Team New Zealand in the 34th America’s Cup
Ripostes are like a piece of brilliant art – as impossible to capture in a string of words as it is to take your eyes off the canvas. Sport is an extension of life in more ways than one. At its purest, it can make the hair stand on end even as a rapturous chill courses through the spine. If miracles alone were enough to be anointed saintly, sport would have to be extolled by the Pope at insanely regular intervals.
The experience of a nearly vanquished competitor somehow resuscitating the body and soul to mount a stirring counter attack is one of the many irresistible elixirs dripping from an overflowing pot of sport. The implausible effort of the Oracle team in the America’s Cup this week has turned the spotlight once again on this rarefied form of art in sport.
If you haven’t already read, heard or felt the gravity of their effort – here is the gist of the story. A group of sailors, docked two points even before they could get warmed up in their fancy boat, fell behind 1-8 in a best of seventeen race regatta in San Francisco. With the biggest prize in Yachting at stake, the 11 men from Oracle Team USA fought back one race at a time to write an improbable story.
As we watched them claw their way back from the brink of defeat, it was a mind numbing journey that left us sinfully satiated. After racing their catamaran to the brink of victory, the Emirates Team New Zealand blokes somehow conspired against themselves to succumb at the altar of a determined exhibition of tenacity from their indomitable opponents.
The “Auld Mug” was literally hanging on the challenger’s sail. The New Zealanders needed just one race victory to snatch the most coveted trophy from the defenders. Like cornered cats, the Oracle team screwed their eyes and discovered the power of the moment, focusing one mile at a time to conjure a magical run of performances that saw them take race after race.
Just as a spectacle, it is difficult to argue with the riveting power of a competitor excavating out of a dump hole just at the moment when the sand is about to be shovelled to complete the burial. There have been several instances over the years where the pathos of a stirring effort transcends sport and turns into a celebration of the human spirit.
As difficult as it is decode the wiring of a seemingly impossible turnaround, there could be various shades to the effort based on context, intensity of desire, cultural undercurrents and a myriad other inexplicable factors that can ignite a rousing revival from a state of near death.
The lucky masses that witnessed the 3-2 triumph of West Germany over the “mighty Magyars” from Hungary in the 1954 world cup were not just witnessing a football final, but the liberation of a nation from the burden of its gory past. Having received an 8-3 drubbing against Hungary in the group stages, barely anyone gave the Germans a chance against Ferenc Puskas and his men. But then those determined men narrated the tale that has come to be known as ‘the miracle of Berne.’
World War II and Adolf Hitler were a still a raw memory and this was in the heart of Europe. When the Hungarians raced away to a 2-0 lead inside eight minutes of the final, there was neither empathy nor hope for the maligned Germans. Inspired by their duty to the nation, Helmut Rahn and Max Morlock lifted the underdogs to score the three goals needed to unfetter the Germans from a collective sense of remorse.
The victorious South African team after defeating New Zealand All Blacks at the 1995 Rugby World Cup
Another example of a defiant performance in sport serving to emancipate a troubled nation was the inspiring effort of the Springboks in the 1995 Rugby world cup. The event was hosted in South Africa and the team of Francois Pienaar carried the weight of apartheid on their shoulders, as Rugby was long considered the exclusive bastion of the oppressive European whites and the Dutch Afrikaners. In the context of the event, the Proteas’ 15-12 victory over the former champions was a remarkable accomplishment.
The Bokke raised their game in a collective thrust to lift a nation with what many consider as one of the most socially significant sporting performances of the modern era. The effort of Joel Stransky, who scored all the points including the extra time drop goal to clinch the ameliorating victory over the favoured All Blacks from New Zealand, left a lasting imprint on the collective conscience of a tormented republic.
While the America’s Cup does not compare with those performances in cultural significance, it made up for it by virtue of its theatrical intensity and human drama. It is an event that could probably be best compared with the efforts of the European team at Medinah last year. The Americans were playing host to the 39th Ryder Cup against the defending champions from Europe. What followed was an emotional roller coaster victory for the Europeans, called the ‘miracle at Medinah.’
The hosts had a commanding 10-4 lead midway through the second afternoon and it appeared that Europe was not too far away from surrendering the trophy. Luke Donald and Ian Poulter lifted the visitors by narrowing the deficit to four ahead of the pulsating final day. Invoking the spirit of Seve Ballesteros, the team from Europe completed a miraculous escape when they took ten of the next thirteen points to retain the trophy.
Back to the regatta; as Team USA inched closer and closer to the challengers, roles reversed and nerves tightened for the concerned members of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The elements too threw their weight behind the pulsating contest – a couple of races were abandoned whilst the New Zealanders enjoyed a handy lead due to weather conditions that were deemed unfit for regatta.
Driven by the tactical nous and commanding presence of Olympian Ben Ainslie, the Oracle team pushed the America’s Cup into an all-or-nothing race on Wednesday. On the day before that epochal finale, the Emirates team gave away their growing uneasiness tacking a tad too early to lose pace and allow their opponents to steal a march. Oracle used the slip to gain a 1000-yard advantage between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay to tie the score at 8-8.
Eventually, Oracle Team USA clinched the America’s Cup with a stunning 45 second victory in the 19th race, winning eight in a row to score an epic victory holding their opponents off on match point. It was a remarkable redemption for a team that was docked two races for cheating in the early stages of the event. With a narrative that is so compelling, it is only natural that the team of men is destined to sail into sporting folklore.
Here’s the final race of the grand epic between Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand:
For a sport damaged in recent times by the accidental drowning of Andrew Simpson and allegations of rampant favouritism, the epic victory of the Oracle team shall serve as a lasting balm of deserving glory.
