It's extremely hard for athletes to accept what's happened to them sometimes. It's hard to be beaten by a small margin, and I've spoken with athletes who, for years afterward, have been tormented by the knowledge that, had they done something ever so slightly different, they could have been one-ten-thousandth of a second quicker.

Summary

This quote addresses the emotional struggle athletes often face when dealing with the outcome of a close competition. Losing by a narrow margin can be extremely difficult to accept, especially when they realize that a slight difference in their performance could have resulted in victory. It highlights the torment experienced by some athletes who dwell on the "what if" scenarios, haunted by the belief that a tiny alteration in their actions could have made all the difference in the result.

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