Being an athlete is an absolute, life-consuming career choice. They spend every waking moment dedicating themselves to the next win, the next challenge.
While many hit great feats, sometimes mistakes are made.
Those mistakes make for very memorable fails. Here are a few of the top fails for female athletes.
1. Runner Down
Falling or tripping is detrimental and embarrassing for anyone, but this is definitely amplified when literally all eyes are on you. Morgan falls during the 1500 m, and is overwhelmed with the disappointment of the whole situation.
She stayed sitting right here until the race was over, and then left heavy-hearted.
2. Flat Out Badminton
Nozomi Okuhara, from Japan, also had a bad fall during her career.
In 2019 BWF World Tour Finals, she showed up ready to give it her best, but in lunching to get a birdie just out of her reach, she lost her footing and belly flopped the court. These things happen.
3. Lending Hands
Even in competitive fields, women look out for one another. In the 2016 Olympics Abbey D’Agostino fell, tripped Nikki Hamblin in the process, and Hamblin went back to make sure D’Agostino got up and finished the race.
Hamblin encouraged D’Agostino to finish the race because no lady is left behind.
4. Gonna Need Some Ice
This artistic ice skater, lands right on the tailbone after attempting a trick. Falling is learning and part of the process, she won’t be down for long!
After a few more tries, she is sure to find herself back on a podium celebrating a victory in no time. Just keep going!
5. Diving Down
Volleyball isn’t for the weak, every move requires precision and strength. Diving to save a ball takes effort, and equally demands a sacrifice because the athlete is now in a tricky position.
In this one though? She not only misses the ball, but gives herself a boop in the face.
6. The Athletes’ Outfits
It’s not a surprise that female professionals will be asked about outfits, or judged for them. We can only hope that one day onlookers pay more attention to skill than clothes.
But sometimes, we just think the colors and patterns chosen by the designers aren’t the prettiest. If the athletes could have chosen their clothes themselves, we are quite sure they would have picked something else. In this case, maybe something a bit more colorful?
6. Sour Serve
Serena Williams is no doubt one of the best, but even the best suffer loss. When Simona Halep defeated Serena, her facial expressions show all the pain we never knew we needed to see.
Even disappointed with her loss, Serena never lost her sportsmanship, she complimented Halep for her win.
7. Weight of the World
Perhaps one of the most terrifying fails is when Genesis Gomez Rodriguez, only 20 at the time, fainted while lifting 352 pounds above her head. Luckily, the weights fell behind her and she wasn’t hurt.
However, the fear for what could have happened if the weights fell another way, remains.
8. Relay Race
Passing a baton seems easy, but there is work here. Slowing down, while the partner starts up, while you’re trying to synchronously pass a baton; it is not easy. Dropping the baton is a sure way to fall behind.
Much like what happened to Allyson Felix in the picture above.
9. All Come Falling Down
Running requires looking ahead and seeing the end goal, which means sometimes we don’t see what’s right at our feet. When one person falls, everyone on the track is in danger of falling as well.
We have all heard of the domino effect, and that’s exactly what is happening here. Have a look at the next photo!
10. Keep Calm and Skate On
Gracie Gold knows how to keep herself in the game, and one fall will not ruin her composure. Even though she fell, she placed fourth, which says a lot about her hard work and dedication to make her routine look beautiful.
One fall didn’t determine how she saw herself. She got up and gave her best up until the end of the routine.
11. Long Way Down
Biking can be a terrifying sport. Not only are they sharing the road with larger vehicles, but they also function within very close quarters of one another. In biking it isn’t if you will fall, but when you will fall.
And when one falls, the rest are sure to follow.
12. Hurt on Hurdles
Vania Stambolova inspires freshman track across the nation to get back up after her fall in 2012. Not only did she fall over a hurdle, but the very first one in the race too.
But she got up, and moved on, so she inspires runners falling over their own hurdles.
13. Not By Standing
This one is a female blocking the athlete. A by standing not paying attention to where she was standing wanders right in the way of a competing athlete.
The worst part of this, is that he took a loss and no chance to make up for someone else’s mistake. The woman must have been to embarrassed with herself.
14. Another Raised Bar
This fall may look as if it is worse than the other hurdle jumper, but this athlete did get back up and finish the race.
You can tell she’s skilled at recovery for the way she rolls out of this fall, saving herself from injury. Athletes also train falling properly, in order not to injure themselves.
15. When it Rains…
Caution, slippery when wet. This is true for courts, fields, tracks, and anything athletes would otherwise be running on. Silvina Delia in 2012 slips on astroturf, but powers through like a true champion would.
Sometimes, it’s not how you fall, but how you rise. This is how you recognize true champions.
16. Power Through
Ice skaters always look so graceful, as if they weigh nothing while they glide over ice. Until you see one crash through a wall, that is.
In the image above you can see her pulling herself up from the wreckage, so I believe we’ll have to call this one phoenix.
17. Recovery
Another race track runner who is setting the expectations that we can overcome disaster is Heather Dorniden. Not only did she get up and finish after falling in her race, but she got up and clutched the first place prize.
You just can’t keep a good woman down, this is epic.
18. Precisely Missed
Another episode of missing the ball in Volleyball. At least this one didn’t hit herself in the face, and instead the ball got her. This has got to hurt terribly though, I hope she didn’t get hit right after a spike!
These women spike hard, and that would be painful.
19. Crossed Lines
Tan lines may embarrass some, but for this athlete, she rocks confidence and cares not at all. She sends the message that looks are not part of the athletic game, and that her mismatched tan lines don’t determine her success.
Get it girl, we’re rooting for you. We all follow your example. Have a look at the next photo!
20. Recovery
Balancing on one leg is difficult when flat-footed, imagine the attempt while moving and balancing on a single blade. Anais Morand attempts to redeem herself from a fall, but eventually she does land right on the ice.
Fortunately, she did not get hurt. Although she was okay, the image caught here was priceless.
21. SmackDown
Wrestling is quite possibly one of the most entertaining sports out there, and the bloopers are significantly entertaining as well. Ruby Riott tapped out a little earlier than expected when wrestling against Tamina Snuka.
Maybe next time premeditate a few other moves and keep the entertainment going a bit longer.
22. Watering Hole
Athletes work hard, but also know how to manage that stress. Here we see two ladies in competition enjoying what they can of their hard work.
It might not be the most sanitary to put pool water in your mouth, but they must know what they’re doing, it is their job after all. Right?
23. Group Hurdles
So this isn’t a hurdle, but a steeplechase. The runner on the ground is Clarisse Cruz, and it definitely appears that she is about to be trampled.
Luckily, the other women on the track know how to avoid this outcome, and so she safely finishes the race, in 11th place.
24. Ground Floor
Gymnasts are agile, which is a good thing for Moldir Azimbay pictured here. While a normal person would have suffered a great deal from a fall like this, Azimbay rolled right into recovery and redeemed herself.
She lost a chance for a medal, but she stays to fight another year.
25. Pressure Points
Maria Alexandra Escobar Guerrero hails from Ecuador and was honored to represent her country multiple times in weightlifting. Unfortunately, in this image below, her pain is captured in that facial expression right before she drops the weights.
She may have been unsuccessful in capturing that medal, but she’s still impressive.
26. Scream it Out
While athletes may be sweet and inspiring out of their professions, sometimes you can’t help but let go of the emotional response to what you feel like is a disappointment.
Sally Pearson, although kind on most days, lets it all go here after losing her chance at a win. This is understandable.
27. The Scream
You can see the “oh no” in this face as she flies through the air. Gymnasts fly through the air with twists, turns, and flips.
You can tell on her face that she knows something went wrong and that an unfavorable outcome is on its way. It must actually be scary to be so high in the air and see something is going wrong.
28. Face of Fury
Every sport can get a little aggressive, and luckily in tennis we get to see the actual expressions of the athletes as they battle for their win.
This one in particular is priceless, and definitely the definition of Hulking out. The frown, the grit teeth, the muscle flex; it’s gold.
29. Baton Blunder
While the previous angry face was directed at an opponent, this one is directed right at her teammate. There is nothing worse that acknowledging that a loss was out of your control.
In 2008, the drop of the baton lost an opportunity for gold, and possibly a bond between teammates.
30. Bar Raised
She lifts the weights. She drops the weights. Then, she lays down for a moment to capture the breath that was lost in this victory.
She was fourth place, but moved into bronze winning because one of the victors was using steroids. So, well worth the picture here and the funny faces.
31. Driven into the Ice
The move you see here, at least in wrestling, is called a pile driver. Obviously, this isn’t what she intended.
However, the idea that a beautiful ice skater lifted a man and drove him into the ice like this is still iconic and hilarious. Hopefully nobody was hurt in the fall.
32. Communication Failure
It seems that everyone knows to yell, “Got it!” whenever they’re going in for a ball. But this image shows that both of the ladies were keeping their eyes on the prize, and not paying attention to their surroundings.
Maybe they hugged this one out, but that impact looks brutal.
33. At a Loss
Usually, you can guess at a context clue of an image. There is some level of deductive reasoning to understanding exactly what goes wrong in a sport.
This one is baffling though. Her face suggests disgusts, her hands are empty, nothing is in front of her. What is going on?
34. Face It
The last thing we care about when we are at the moment is our face, and unfortunately for athletes this dedication can sometimes look, well, unforgettable. Focussed on their goal, the athletes often don’t get a moment to think about it.
This particular image will probably haunt her the same way Beyonce is haunted by the superbowl.
35. Aiming Low
Until this image, it would have been difficult to convince anyone that a referee was a dangerous job. But the look in his face says he may be applying to a few new places after this.
Sometimes the balls just get out of hand, and into a little bit of trouble.
36. Lady Down
Sometimes, even when you prepare for the worse, the worse can still happen and knock you literally off of your feet. That is what happened to Morgan Uceny during the 2012 Olympics.
She walked away without a medal, but she is still an Olympic competitor, and that’s a great accomplishment.
37. Another One
The falls of Morgan Uceny are almost endearing at this point, because she’s still highly favored, and yet she falls quite often. In this one we see her just before she hits the ground.
While the face is priceless, the amount of muscle and strength in this photo is undeniable.
38. Give it Your All
Every coach in the world has given the, “Give it your all,” speech before. And in this picture, we see her doing exactly that.
Not only does it take physical strength, and mental perseverance, but apparently throwing the shot put also takes some seriously distorted facial expressions, like in a few other sports.
39. Don’t Look Back
In the back, Jemima Sumgong hits the floor hard, clipped by Aselefech Mergia. Another woman on the left there is also starting towards the ground. They were able to get back on their feet and keep running.
The runners left standing on the right are determined to keep their eyes on the prize and their feet on the ground.
40. Match Mistaken
Gail Kim and Mickie James were all set for an extreme match in 2009, something that would have given attention to women’s wrestling all over. However, against all expectations, Kim knocked herself out.
James was no longer able to show off her hardcore moves, and the fight was a disappointment.