DISAPPOINTMENT WITH A CAPITAL "D"

This truly must be disappointment, spelled with a capital "D"...

There is the skiing downhill race, featuring all the aces...
There is Svindal, who is considered "unbeatable"..
there are all the Austrian, Swiss and other aces.
Down the hill comes a Canadian, Eric Guay, to whom very little chance is given to place in the top 10.
He tears down this slope at breathtaking speed and places "FIRST" ...
Now everybody has come down except some of the lower ranked racers.
Eric Guay is interviewed before everybody has come down.
It seems clear:
Eric is the winner.
Nobody is left up there, but some "also rans"...nobody who can threaten Eric's triumph.
Eric first speaks in reasonable, heavily accented German... then, in his excitement, switches to English and talks about his happiness about winning. " I've never won a race before" he bubbles. The interviewer smiles benevolently.
The race goes on, but has lost excitement. The First, Second and Third place racers are determined.
Now comes a Slovenian, named Rok Perko. I've never heard of Rok and barely glance at the screen.
What is this I see?
First intermediate time: Rok is leading Eric by 0.02 seconds. Second intermediate: Rok is even a little further up front. At the finishing line: Rok Perko, the Nobody from Slovenia has beaten Eric Guay's time by less than  half a second. 
Eric is now in Second Place.
Everybody pays attention again. Some more racers come down, placing in the mid teens, low twenties and even low thirties..
Now Steve Nyman, USA is on the course and...I won't keep you guessing:
Nyman has First, Rok is Second and Eric Guay, who had been celebrated as the victor is now only Third.
Eric may now repeat:   "I've never won a race."

In my mind, everybody who makes it down this treacherous slope in one piece and standing up is a champion, even if not a winner.

Bertstravels doffs his hat at all of them.