Vinko Bogataj

Biography

For decades the opening of the American sports programme Wide World of Sports showed the same footage: a skier on an enormous ski jump loses his balance on the inrun, tumbles and crashes through a light fence beside the spectators. At that moment the host, Jim McKay, spoke the words “…and the agony of defeat.” The skier was the Yugoslav ski jumper Vinko Bogataj.

He was born on 4 March 1948 in Brezovica, in Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia.

In 1962 Bogataj joined the junior ski jumping team, and in 1964 he became national junior champion. From 1966 to 1975 he was a member of the senior national team. His best known result in the Four Hills Tournament, the annual ski jumping series, is 57th place in the individual normal hill event at Bischofshofen in 1969. The fall took place in Oberstdorf, West Germany, on the Heini Klopfer hill, at a ski flying competition. The date is given as either 7 March or 21 March 1970. Heavy snow had begun to fall by the time of Bogataj’s third jump. Midway down the inrun he realised that his speed was too high, tried to lower his centre of gravity and slow down, but lost his balance and shot off the end of the inrun; his speed was about 100 kilometres per hour. He suffered a broken ankle and a mild concussion. The Wide World of Sports film crew happened to be at the competition, covering it for an ordinary report. The coordinating producer, Dennis Lewin, inserted the footage of the fall into the opening montage so that it coincided with the words about “the agony of defeat”. Other clips were added later, but Bogataj’s fall always stayed in the opening and always came first. The skier was not named in the credits.

He himself was living quietly in Slovenia at the time and did not know of his fame in America. He was surprised when in 1981 he was invited to the celebration of the programme’s 20th anniversary. There he received louder applause than any other athlete introduced, and Muhammad Ali asked him for an autograph. In the 1990s, on his way to an interview for the same programme, Bogataj was involved in a minor car accident. He told the reporter: “Every time I’m on ABC, I crash.”

He returned to ski jumping in 1971 but never regained his earlier level and left the sport as a competitor, occasionally taking part in senior events. In 1979–1980 he worked as a coach at the Stol ski club in Žirovnica; among his pupils was Franci Petek, who became world champion in 1991. To earn a living Bogataj painted, and he also worked as a forklift operator at the Veriga Lesce factory. His paintings have won awards and been exhibited in Europe and the United States. He also enjoys wood carving. He lives in Lesce.