It is an unavoidable conclusion that the very definition of a sporting contest determines that ultimately somebody usually has to lose.
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While athletes and supporters live for those moments of victory, it is the memory of agonising defeats that makes them so precious.
But conversely, it is how those defeats are handled that can define a sportsman, or indeed sportswoman.
Northern Hawks captain Gemma Poke spoke to her team moments after they lost Saturday's State League grand final 62-57 to their cross-town rivals Cavaliers.
It was just the Hawks' second loss in two years, but also two weeks, having gone down by the same margin to the same team in the semi-final.
Poke had every right to be gutted and every justification for producing a speech of minimal words and substance.
Instead, she told her teammates: "To be here is a true testament (not just) for being fantastic netballers but phenomenal people and we'll be bonded for life by this shared experience.
"I feel so privileged to play this game I love with my best friends.
"Soak it up, life is short and these are the moments we'll remember when we're wrinkly and telling people about the good old days."
Who wouldn't want to play for a captain like that?
I am wrinkly and I do still go on about my far more modest sporting achievements from the good old days, often many times over. And they get better with each telling.
Soak it up, life is short and these are the moments we'll remember when we're wrinkly and telling people about the good old days.
- Northern Hawks captain Gemma Poke after her team lost the State Netball League grand final to Cavaliers
Poke wasn't finished. Touching on the growing rivalry between the Silverdome co-tenants, third consecutive all-Northern grand final showdown and to-and-fro nature of the game's closing stages which saw the teams level at the final break, she added: "These derbies never get any easier, it was such a good feeling in that last quarter, in all honesty, games like this are why you play."
I hope I'm not getting carried away here but I would like to nominate Poke as our next Prime Minister. She's certainly more genuine than the current one.
All too often in the immediate aftermath of a narrow result, athletes can be prone to over-reaction or hyperbole which overlooks the fact that the narrowest of margins separated winner from non-winner (loser is such a horrible word).
At the European Soccer Championships in July, England and Italy had ploughed through six fixtures - three of them knockout - to meet each other in the final. After 90 minutes, the nations were locked at 1-1. Ditto after 30 more minutes of extra-time. Italy won the penalty shootout 3-2.
At last month's Tokyo Olympics, the best two hockey teams, Australia and Belgium, had topped their pools after five games then won quarter- and semi-finals to meet in the gold medal decider. Once again, at full-time they were locked together at 1-1 with Belgium winning the shootout 3-2.
Twice in this year's AFL finals, teams have held on to win by one point.
Greater Western Sydney kicked just 0.1 (1) in the final quarter against Sydney in Launceston, but that was ultimately their margin of victory despite the Swans registering nine times as many scoring shots in that last term.
And on Saturday, in a match which reminded viewers how good AFL can be when Brian Taylor isn't commentating, a scrambled behind with seconds remaining by Laitham Vandermeer saw the Western Bulldogs defeat the luckless Brisbane Lions by the same margin after the two sides had been separated by half a percentage point at the end of the regular season.
The last Cricket World Cup final saw England and New Zealand both score 241 runs off 50 overs and then 15 more from a super over before the former was adjudged a somewhat controversial winner by virtue of hitting a superior number of boundaries.
In such entertaining circumstances, after both teams have contributed so much to the contest, it is almost unfair that one has to lose.
For the Italian footballers, Belgian hockey players and English cricketers came trophies, titles and a permanent place in sporting history despite being only fractionally better than their empty-handed opponents.
The mark of a champion is not necessarily how they win, but how they lose.
Tasmanian Eddie Ockenden went to his fourth Olympics in Tokyo having won everything hockey has on offer - except an Olympic title.
He was captain of the Kookaburras team defeated by Belgium in that gold medal shootout and later said: "Everyone's a bit disappointed. We feel a bit numb. But we're reinforcing that we're proud of each and every one of us."
He can be Poke's Deputy Prime Minister.