Sports Greatest Underdog Stories - Athletes Immortalised After They Defied The Odds

In ancient Chinese philosophy, there is the duelling concept of yin and yang, which suggests that for every great force, there is always a complementary power that rises alongside it. In sport, this translates, as for every Duke Blue Devil or Manchester City, there is always an underdog. The underdog is one of the many defining factors that make sport great, and over the centuries, there have been so many underdog stories that even some truly astounding feats slip the minds of today's sporting fanatics. What follows is not a ranking of sports greatest underdog stories but more of a celebration of what makes an underdog truly spectacular. 

Leicester City FC Win The Premier League 

As the most present underdog on the list, the memory of Leicesters triumph in 2015/2016 is probably still fresh in the minds of every hurting Arsenal fan around the world. At 5000/1, the Foxes were expected to finish the season battling against relegation but instead chose to sit atop of some of the Premier League's most senior sides. At the forefront of this charge was homegrown Jamie Vardy, who despite scoring 13 goals in 11 consecutive league matches (a Premier League record), finished 2nd in the Golden Boot race with 24 goals. Alongside great season-long performances from N'golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez, Leicester lost just 3 games in the 2015/2016 season (3rd all-time) and finished clear of 2nd place Arsenal by 10 points. 

Its fanbase was a force to be reckoned with too after fans at Leicester University caused a 0.3 on the Richter scale when Leonardo Ulloa scored an injury-time winner against Norwich. 

Rulon Gardner Defeats Alexander Karelin for Wrestling Gold at 2000 Olympic Games

I'll be the first to admit when I was searching for notable underdog stories for today's post, I was slightly apprehensive about this one. However, this is a true David and Goliath story that more people should know about. Rulon Gardner was the youngest of 9 children and had a job at his families farm in Wyoming. He had a passion for wrestling but would not make his high school's wrestling team until he was in his senior year. If this isn't the origin story of a born underdog, I don't know what is?  

In 2004 he travelled in Sydney, where he fought for Olympic gold against Alexander Karelin, perhaps the most terrifying individual on the planet. Karelin had won gold for Russia at 3 consecutive Olympic Games and had conceded just a single point in over 10 years. At a lean 287lbs, Karelin's strength was unparalleled and often showcased this in performing tasks that are usually accomplished by lifts or cranes. In one instance, Karelin bought a refrigerator at a store over a mile away from his apartment. Instead of having it delivered, Karelin carried the refrigerator all the way home, up eight flights of stairs and into his kitchen. Unfortunately, carrying kitchenware wasn't the only thing Karelin used his herculean strength for, and in a bout against Gardner, 2 years prior to their clash in Sydney, utterly dominated the American, breaking 2 vertebrae in Gardner's neck in the process. 

However, like all great underdog's, Gardner beat the Russian 1-0 in the Olympic Wrestling Final and wrote his name into the history books.   

Niki Lauda's Return From The Dead 

In a near-fatal crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix, Niki Lauda sustained massive burns to his face and head, after his Ferrari crashed into a barrier and burst into flames. Lauda was immediately placed into a coma and was read his final rights as doctors struggled to keep him alive. When he awoke, he underwent painful surgery and skin grafts to repair his injuries and after just 40 days, he was back on the starting grid of the Italian Grand Prix. With blood still dripping from his bandages and his vision obscured, Lauda steered his Ferrari to a remarkable 4th place finish, reinvigorating his challenge for the Drivers World Championship. 

Prior to his accident, Lauda was comfortably ahead of rival James Hunt and it was highly expected that he would win the 1976 World Championship, just as he had in 1975. However, despite his heroic comeback, the Austrian would lose the title by a mere point, choosing to retire at the final race in Japan due to hazardous driving conditions. But this was not the end of Niki Lauda and continued his incredible road back to the top of Formula One, winning world titles in 1977 and 1984.

Don Haskins and Texas Western Miners Win 1966 NCAA Championship 

Don Haskins is a name that has been unfortunately lost in basketball folk law. Little do people know that this small-time coach from Oklahoma was responsible for one of the greatest basketball underdog stories that remain mostly untold. In a setting straight of Hollywood, the Texas Western Miners were not a winning team and recruited Coach Haskins as a method of disciplining the troublesome kids that lived on campus. Instead, Haskins recruited America's first all African American starting lineup, which in 1966 did not play well with locals. But Haskins didn't see colour but instead saw an unbeatable unit of players that could fight not only the biggest names in college basketball but the ideologies of those watching. 

The Miners finished the 1966 season with a record of 28-1, beating favourites Kentucky with a comfortable 72-65 victory in the NCAA Final. The entirety of the Miners starting line-up, along with Don Haskins, was inducted into the NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame, immortalising this true underdog and the social message that they represented.