Being focused is one of the most important things in life.
Under no circumstances should you ever lose your concentration, especially if you’ve
got hundreds, if not thousands of eyeballs watching you live all at once.
Unfortunately when victory is closer than ever, not everyone acts accordingly.
Today I’m gonna show you the stories of people who started to celebrate too early
and lost at the last second.
Ready to see them?
Let’s get it on!
In a high-stakes sport like MotoGP, where you’re probably at least a little bit excited
to still be alive when you cross the finish line, it’s not surprising people want to
start celebrating early.
But a lap early might be a bit much.
This racer thought he’d won when he slowed down and started happily enjoying his victory,
but his opponents knew it wasn’t over.
He seems almost confused as to why they’re all flying past him at breakneck speeds, but
you can’t win a race without being competitive, so instead of accepting his opponents are
right, he just celebrates harder to prove he’d won.
When he finally had to accept his fate and put his head in his hands, presumably to hide
his face in shame, it was way, way too late to get back to anywhere near the lead.
He ended up finishing in only 14th place.
Sometimes it’s worth listening to your competitors.
Running requires many impressive skills, but you probably wouldn’t imagine that counting
was one of them.
This former world champion learnt that the hard way though.
This 5,000m race saw him make incredible time and pull out way into the lead, almost certainly
to take the gold, except that it was one lap too early.
He had miscounted and thought he was on his final lap when he crossed the finish line
and pumped his fist.
He made the huge mistake of jogging off the track to celebrate before he saw his closest
competitor sprint past him at an impressive speed.
Of course he quickly returned to the race, but he’d realised his mistake way too late
and of course, he’d burnt all his energy sprinting amazingly fast for the win in the
last lap.
That little mistaken celebration didn’t only cost him the lead, but almost the whole
scoreboard, and he finished in only 10th place!
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him doing an extra lap just in case in future.
It only makes sense that champions want to celebrate when they’re on a high, but this
Moto X competitor may have taken that just a little bit too literally.
She’s had an amazing race and was way out in the lead, so she took a moment to pump
her fist in celebration of her soon-to-be win while at the peak of an impressive jump.
Unfortunately she’s made a tiny mistake, which she could have corrected if only she
hadn’t taken her hand off the throttle.
She didn’t have the time to correct the mistake before her bike landed nose-down and
crashed, giving her almost thoroughly beaten opponents to take the lead.
Just remember, your opponents are even more inclined to want to beat you if you take a
moment to rub their noses in your lead, so always save your celebrations for after you’ve
because, just when you least expect it, he could overtake you.
That’s not even the first time this has happened because of course, that’s not the
first time a fan made the horrible mistake of celebrating just a little too early.
You know you were just a little too confident if your opponent overtaking you makes you
fall over in shock.
These defeats really do give a whole new meaning to the phrase - leave them in the dust.
It’s important to keep your eyes open even when you’re just walking around, so it’s
especially important when you’re in the middle of a cycling race.
And please, make sure that the line you just cycled over was actually the finish line before
you start celebrating.
That’s the mistake this poor cyclist made: yes she crossed a line painted on the road,
but it wasn’t the big one.
Before she realised though, she stopped pedalling and threw her arms in the air in joyous celebration
and her opponent took the opportunity to overtake her and snatch the victory she thought she
already had from her grasp.
If it were me, I’m not sure losing the race would have been the worst part of that though
- it must have been seriously embarrassing making such a big mistake in front of all
those people.
Even the kid looks disapproving.
We’re usually advocates for the sentiment to go big or go home.
That’s probably not true if what you’re going big on is a premature celebration.
This World Series poker player knows that now.
He went all out in celebration of a 1 million dollar win and made sure to seriously rub
his win in his opponents face.
Shouting, prancing around, ripping off his cardigan and throwing it on the floor… which
to start with, is an odd choice of clothing if that’s what you’re going to be doing,
but that wasn’t the big problem with his huge private party.
The real mistake was that he chose to celebrate before the final card was dealt.
But to be fair, there was only one card that could lead to a win for his opponent.
Never forget karma is swift, and if you’re going to celebrate like a rude child for a
full minute before knowing the outcome, you’re going to regret it.
Sometimes you catch yourself doing something really amazing.
When that happens, it can be difficult to not immediately start jumping for joy, but
it might be in your best interest to hold off for a moment.
This budding tennis star found himself battling through a really tough rally to win a point.
He was playing expertly, possibly even surprising himself, especially when he managed to return
the ball at a particularly difficult moment.
He thought he’d won it, but his opponent felt otherwise.
Sure it was a difficult shot for his opponent to get, but he did it anyway, and all while
the young player’s back was turned in celebration of his amazing not-winning point.
At least now he knows you can’t let your guard down even for a moment.
He probably won’t be making that mistake again in a hurry.
Being a great sportsman doesn’t only take physical prowess, but a specific dedicated
mental state as well.
That’s definitely what was needed in this heart-pounding cyclocross race, where we see
the man who should have been the winner accidentally think he’d crossed the finish line when
he still had a whole lap to go.
Not only did he make that mistake, but it took him ages to realise that everyone else
was still racing.
When he finally recognised his mistake, he’d been overtaken by many of his most dangerous
competitors.
On the bright side, he really gave the audience a show to remember, as he slowly but surely
pulled back out to the front against some fierce opponents.
It was neck in neck, but he’d exhausted himself by sprinting too early and trying
to catch up, so he just missed out in the very last moments.
At least it was a race for the history books, even though he’s probably too disappointed
to care.
Some people believe the universe is a cold, unfeeling place with no logic.
But sometimes you see something that makes you certain that can’t be true.
Usually that’s because something beautiful and miraculous happens.
But we can prove the universe is waiting for opportunities to laugh at you.
This guy was just a little too cocky.
You would think him missing the basket would be enough punishment, and it is a beautiful
sight as it bounces away behind his smug face.
But the universe wanted to take it a step further and physically knock the smile off
his face.
So he’s come away with that overly confident celebration with no points, no respect from
his friend with the camera, a headache, and maybe even a minor dent in his dad’s car
as the cherry on top.
Never, ever turn your back on the universe, it has powers you can’t even imagine.
Boxing is one of those sports that can get a little difficult to follow.
Sure there are times when you can see exactly who’s won, but other times it's all in the
points and even the boxers themselves get confused.
This match was one of those - it got really, really close.
And in the end, Logan Paul decided to celebrate a victory by pumping his fist in the air…
except the victory wasn’t his.
KSI was soon announced the victor, which really must’ve hurt since this was already a rematch.
Logan will now insist forever that he’d lost due to a penalty points deduction he
wasn’t aware of, but still, everyone can see he jumped the gun on this one.