Maxwellian efforts: 9 times athletes overcame pain to win big

Anirudh MenonNovember 7, 2023 11:02 pm ET7 min read

Glenn Maxwell produced one of the greatest performances in history as he shot an unbeaten 201 on Tuesday while suffering debilitating cramps. Unable to score a single, he somehow managed his big overs cleanly to lead Australia from 49/4 and 91/7 against a seemingly rampant Afghanistan bowling attack to 293/7 with one ball and four The rest of the round resulted in a remarkable victory.

ESPN India looks back at similar heroic feats where athletes push their physical limits and put their bodies through hell to get that all-important W:

Elise Perry

Let’s start with another Australian cricketer who is the absolute best among Australian cricketers. During the 2013 ICC World Cup final, Perry missed most of the previous match after suffering a broken ankle, which required surgery days later…which Australia won.

She came on after West Indies got off to a good start and went on to tear them apart, finishing with bowling figures of 3/19 in 10 overs (which also included three maidens). As Jarrod Kimber writes, “This will be known as the World Cup that Ellis Perry won on one leg“.

Honorable Mention: Anil Kumble, with his fractured jaw bandaged, took a wicket from Brian Charles Lara and helped India win in Antioch in 2002 Guadalcanal drew the West Indies. What is his reason for doing this? “I don’t want to sit around.”

Bert Trautman

It was 1956, the FA Cup final. When you were knocked into the Manchester City goal in the 73rd minute, Birmingham City striker Peter Murphy’s knee struck your neck. After a while, you stood up. You felt pain and your neck was obviously crooked.

Now, at this point, you and I may be done with it, but your and my name is not Burt Trautman. With no substitutes allowed at the time, Trautmann stayed on the pitch and made several key saves to ensure City won the cup 3-1. Three days later, X-rays revealed that he had dislocated five vertebrae in the conflict, one of which had been broken in two.

Swapna Bartender

Pain has been Swapna Barman’s constant companion. India’s best-ever heptathlete walked into the 2018 Asian Games with a spinal injury (herniated disc) and pain in his knees and toes. When an infected tooth added to her pain (anyone with a tooth infection will tell you, pain is an understatement), she said “Bah, that’s a lie,” winning three of the seven events. achieved a personal best and won a gold medal.

“My jaw was so swollen. It was so painful. But I had to keep going,” she said after it all happened.

Wonder Woman Swapna bartender overcomes pain disorder

Zhang Depei

Seventeen. In 1989, he fell two sets behind in the fourth round of the French Open. Against top seed Ivan Lendl, he suffered cramps in his legs near the end of the game, could barely move, was dehydrated and was warned “waste time“…but Chang kept going. He tore up the tennis playbook and started hitting arcing forehands that were long and took a long time to cross the net, occasionally smashing, and even underhand serves (Kyrgios, That’s what you do). He won the mental battle against the great Lendl and won the match 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. He then went on to win the entire match , defeated Stefan Edberg in another five-set thriller.

P.V. Sindhu

PV Sindhu walks out with blue straps on her left ankle and foot during the 2022 Commonwealth Games finals in Birmingham She has a gold medal around her neck. Some people were worried about her injury before the game. Her movements outside the court were cautious and awkward, but she performed very elegantly on the court and eliminated Canada’s Michelle Reis 21-15, 21-13.

It was only after the Olympics that it was confirmed that Sindhu had a stress fracture in her left foot. She was in pain throughout the competition (starting in the quarter-finals), but she persevered and made sure to take home one of the biggest gold medals that had previously eluded her.

Michael Jordan

They just call it “flu game‘. Michael Jordan was playing in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals after suffering flu-like symptoms (later thought to be food poisoning) the night before and much of the day before the game. And vomiting.

He was wobbly at times, dehydrated and exhausted, but with the Finals score being Chicago Bulls 2-2 Utah Jazz, there was no way he wasn’t playing. He did play well, scoring 38 points (including a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left) to lead the Bulls to victory in Salt Lake City.

“This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Jordan said after the game. “I almost passed out trying to win a basketball game.”

Kerry Strug

1996 Atlanta, women’s gymnastics team finals. Team USA led in the final event, vault, but after Demonique Moceanu fell on both attempts, it all came down to 18-year-old Kerry Strug (Kerri Strug)’s shoulders. Her performance would determine the difference between Team USA’s gold and silver medals (they were beaten by the Soviet Union for gold in ’92)…but on her first jump, Strug landed awkwardly, her ankle below her.

If she doesn’t jump the second jump, it’s a silver medal. Barely able to move, she asked, “Do we need this?” before somehow lunging forward and basically doing an amazing vault on one leg before collapsing to the ground in agony. She won the gold medal for Team USA with a score of 9,712 points.

this Video of that vault This is incredible.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods limped into the 2008 U.S. Open with two stress fractures in his left tibia and recent surgery on cartilage damage in his knee. He completed his 14th major after playing 91 excruciating holes essentially on one leg. Eight days after the victory, he had another surgery on his left knee to reconstruct the ACL.

“No ACL, broken leg, not feeling good,” Woods said after the win, which he said rather lightly would be his second and final major championship (the last was at the 2019 Masters) superior).

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1668656980851048448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Frank Moss

In March 1935, Arsenal goalkeeper Frank Moss dislocated his left shoulder during a First Division match against Everton. Of course, no substitutes were allowed at the time, so instead of seeing his team overwhelm one in their pursuit of the title, he strapped his shoulder to his side and took up a role on the left wing. He scored the second goal in Arsenal’s 2-0 win (correct shot with his feet after a quick move down the left wing).

His injury flared up during the post-goal celebrations, and he left the pitch in pain and headed to hospital (where it was discovered he also had damage to the muscles in his left arm). Following the injury (early 1936), he played just seven games for Arsenal, with a second shoulder dislocation ending his career. Moss remains the only Arsenal goalkeeper to score for the club.

Honorable mention: Franz Beckenbauer broke his collarbone in the 1970 World Cup semifinal against Italy and continued playing with his arm in a sling. However, his West Germany team lost a match in a thrilling 4-3 fashion.