Seeing a Cinderella story can be beautiful. Seeing an upset can be inspirational. It can be proof that anything can happen. Luckily, it's not a once-in-a-lifetime occurence. There are several occasions of this happening.
The term, "Cinderella story" refers to situations in which competitors achieve far greater success than would reasonably have been best expected. Cinderella stories tend to gain much media and fan attention as they move closer to the tournament's final game.
The term comes from the well-known European folk tale of Cinderella, which embodies a myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward, when the title character's life of poverty is suddenly changed to one of remarkable fortune.
In a sporting context, the term has been used at least since 1939 but came into widespread usage in 1950, when the Disney movie was released that year and in reference to City College of New York, the unexpected winners of the NCAA Men's Basketball championship also that year.
The term was used by Bill Murray in the 1980 movie, Caddyshack, where he pretends to be the announcer to his own golf fantasy: "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion."
Referring somewhat inaccurately to the plot details of the classic Cinderella story, the media will debate whether the given "Cinderella" team or player will "turn into a pumpkin," i.e. fail to win the prize and then return to its former obscurity.
In the fairy tale, it was the carriage that turned into a pumpkin at midnight, not Cinderella herself. Another popular term is "strike midnight," when a Cinderella team does finally get beaten.
Prior to the widespread use of Cinderella in this way, the more common term for unexpected and dramatic success was Miracle, as in the "Miracle Braves" of 1914, the "Miracle on Grass" in 1950, the "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff" in 1951, the "Miracle Mets" of 1969 and the "Miracle on Ice" in 1980.
Cinderella teams are also referred to as a surprise package or surprise packet, and their success would be termed a fairy-tale run.
Lydia Ko completed what she called a "Cinderella-like story" as she clinched the Women’s Open at St. Andrews on Sunday, just a few weeks after winning Olympic gold in Paris.
The 27-year-old from New Zealand carded a three-under 69 in her final round, including a birdie on the final hole, to finish on seven-under after her four rounds and claim her third major title as well as $1.425 million in winnings.
She said during the presentation, "It’s pretty surreal. Winning the gold medal in Paris a few weeks ago, it was almost too good to be true."
"And obviously heading into the weekend, I was in contention and I said, "How is it possible for me to win The Open? I’ve had the most Cinderella-like story these past few weeks and this is almost too good to be true."
"And of all the major championships, I think this one I had the least amount of confidence just because I haven’t had as much experience playing on links [courses] and the results didn’t follow either. But to be holding this trophy right now, I can’t believe it."
Ko finished two shots ahead of four players – world No. 1, Nelly Korda, Yin Ruoning, defending champion, Lilia Vu and Shin Ji-yai – who all tied for second.
Ko began the final round on Sunday three shots behind South Korea’s Shin, who led after 54 holes but a birdie on the fourth hole began her charge.
However, a run of birdies from American Korda halfway through her round saw her shoot into the lead as she continued her excellent form this season. A double-bogey on the par-five 15th hole saw her drop back, leaving Ko and Shin tied for the lead.
After a birdie from Vu at the 14th, it left a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with just four holes left to play.
Ko was the first of the quartet to finish, setting a clubhouse lead of seven-under with her final-hole birdie. And as she waited, her competitors fell away.
Korda and Shin both bogeyed the 17th and Vu had a chance to force a playoff on the 18th but a three-putt handed the title to Ko.
The Braves performed one of the most memorable reversals in major league history, going from last place to first place in two months, becoming the first team to win a pennant after being in last place on the Fourth of July.
After finishing in fifth place in 1913 with a record of 69 wins and 82 losses, the Braves weren't expected to be contenders. They spent the first part of the season in last place, posting a record of 26 wins and 40 losses in early July. Led by three pitchers, Dick Rudolph, Bill James and Lefty Tyler, the team began to win games, taking over first place for good on 8 September .
Their record over their final 87 games was 68–19 for a winning percentage of .782. Infielders Johnny Evers and Rabbit Maranville led the league in double plays. The Braves went on to sweep Connie Mack's heavily favoured Athletics in four games in the 1914 World Series.
The team became known as the "Miracle" Braves and remain one of the most storied comeback teams in baseball history. The franchise would not win another pennant until 1948.
The 1950 FIFA World Cup was England's World Cup debut. The Football Association had boycotted the previous three tournaments owing to a dispute with FIFA over payments made to amateur players, which had been resolved four years earlier.
England and the United States were both drawn in Group 2, along with Spain and Chile: under the rules of the competition only the group winner from this four-nation round-robin would progress to the final stage. Each team had played one previous match in the group, England having beaten Chile 2–0 and the United States losing 3–1 to Spain.
At the time, the English had a reputation as the "Kings of Football," with a post-war record of 23 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws. They had beaten the Italians 4–0 and the Portuguese 10–0 in Lisbon two weeks before that. In comparison, the Americans, despite having reached the semi-finals of the inaugural 1930 World Cup, had lost their last seven international matches (including the 1934 World Cup and 1948 Summer Olympics) by the combined score of 45–2, including: heavy losses to Italy (7–1); Norway (11–0) and Northern Ireland (5–0).
The odds were 3–1 the English would win the Cup and 500–1 for the U.S.. The people from Belo Horizonte were eager to watch the English team, with 10 000 tickets sold along with 3 000 distributed to associates of Sete de Setembro Futebol Clube, then-owners of the newly inaugurated Estádio Independência.
Before the game, England were heavy favourites against a hastily assembled U.S. team, which was composed of part-time players. The game's only goal was scored by Haitian-born U.S. center forward, Joe Gaetjens. This game and the U.S. team were profiled by author, Geoffrey Douglas, in his book, The Game of Their Lives, which was made into a film of the same name (later renamed The Miracle Match).
"Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff" has been used to describe the Giants' 1951 season as a whole. The team overcame a seemingly insurmountable deficit of 13 games in the National League standings on August 11 to force the three-game playoff series against the Dodgers.
The 1969 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1969 season. The 66th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion, Baltimore Orioles and the National League (NL) champion, New York Mets. The Mets won the series, four games to one, to accomplish one of the greatest upsets in Series history as that particular Orioles team was considered to be one of the finest ever. The World Series win earned the team the sobriquet "The Miracle Mets." This was the first World Series of MLB's divisional era.
The Mets became the first expansion team to win a division title a pennant and the World Series, winning in their eighth year of existence, becoming the fastest expansion team to win a World Series up to that point.
The 1999 St. Louis Rams looked like a disaster heading in to the regular season. The team was coming off a 4-12 record and starting quarterback, Trent Green, sustained a season-ending injury before the first week.
The Rams turned to Kurt Warner, an unknown player who had spent time in NFL Europe and the Arena League. It turned out to be the best decision in franchise history. Warner was also fortunate enough to begin his stint with the Rams in the same season that Marshall Faulk was acquired.
The two tore through the NFL and debuted "The Greatest Show on Turf."
The Rams finished 13-3 and battled the Tennessee Titans in one of the most exciting games in Super Bowl history. St. Louis linebacker, Mike Jones tackled, Titans' receiver, Kevin Dyson, on the 1-yard line as time expired to preserve a Rams' victory and a fairy-tale ending to the season.
The 1965-66 Texas Western basketball team became the first to win an NCAA championship with five African American starters. The team started the season outside of the limelight but quickly built a reputation by rolling to a 28-1 record. They were the No. 3 seed in the country heading into the tournament.
The Miners pulled out a thrilling overtime victory over national power, Kansas, in the Elite Eight and eventually made it to the finals against a formidable Kentucky squad.
The team changed history by defeating the country's top seed in the finals and would later inspire the book and movie, Glory Road. The athletes on Texas Western triumphed in the face of bigotry and hatred and had a profound impact on sports history.
The Detroit Pistons finished third in the East during the 2003-04 regular season and showed little signs of being a championship caliber team.
After Michael Jordan retired in 1999, the Western Conference went on a five-year reign of dominance in which the East only won six finals games.
The Los Angeles Lakers won three consecutive championships and the San Antonio Spurs took the other two. NBA fans got in the habit of assuming the Western Conference champions would also become league champions. When the Lakers returned to the finals with a revamped line-up featuring Gary Payton and Karl Malone, few expected the paradigm-shifting upset that would ensue.
The Pistons' five quality starters were too much for the Lakers' top-heavy line-up. Detroit dominated L.A. and won the series 4-1 to complete one of the biggest upsets in finals history.
In 2004, the Greece national soccer team qualified for the European Championships for the first time in 24 years. The last time the team had played in a major tournament was the 1994 World Cup and they lost all three of it's matches.
The Ethinki immediately turned heads by defeating Portugal, the host nation, in the opening fixture. The team would go on to tie Spain in the next game and in the group standings. They moved on to the knockout stages via a tiebreaker.
The road to the finals was daunting and started with defending-champions France. The French went unbeaten in the group stage but couldn't crack the Greek defense. The underdogs went on to win the match 1-0.
In the semi-final, fans were sure that the Greek's dream run would come to an end against the Czech Republic. The Czechs had won all of its matches in the tournament and were the heavy favourites. The Greek defense again refused to budge and the team won 1-0.
Next up was the finals and a re-match against Portugal. While a pattern had started and spectators should have seen it coming, nearly everyone still believed the Greeks would lose. Sure enough, though, the blue-clad back line held firm and the Greeks became improbable champions by winning the game 1-0.
The Japan women's national soccer team entered the 2011 World Cup having won just three games in past tournaments. The team made a giant step forward leading up to the World Cup and was ranked No. 4 in the world.
The Japanese had the support of fans all over the world as their country was disaster-stricken and in mourning.
Despite being sentimental favourites, no one actually thought they would be able to compete with No. 2 Germany in the quarter-finals. The team showed incredible resolve and won the match 1-0 in extra time.
Japan reached the final and faced the United States, the world's top-ranked team. The Japanese trailed by a goal in regulation time and extra time but were able to come back both times to force penalty kicks.
The brave women brought a moment of joy to their country in the midst of pain and sadness by putting away their penalties and winning the World Cup.
In the 2015/16 season, Leicester City had won their first ever English Premier League title in 132 years of existence and the story of their success is being projected as the greatest ever in sporting history.
After battling in the lower levels of English domestic football for 10 years, the Foxes secured promotion in 2014. After a impressive start, they pulled off a heist during the tail end of the season ensuring they weren't relegated by winning seven of their final nine matches. Under Claudio Ranieri, the struggle to stay in the top flight blossomed into a remarkable maiden title glory, when Tottenham Hotspur were held on to a draw by Chelsea which mathematically removed them from the title race.
The 1980 United States Olympic men's hockey team is probably the greatest Cinderella story in sports.
The team was a scrappy bunch of college kids who made history by defeating the USSR 4-3 in the semi-finals. The Soviets had won the previous four gold medals and were universally considered to be the best team in the world.
The game had importance on an even deeper level as it came in the midst of the Cold War and national tensions added another element to the game.
The Soviets led 3-2 heading into the third period but the relentless Americans clawed back to tie the game and a Michael Eruzione shot gave the U.S. a one-goal lead, which would be enough to shock the world.
The team went on to defeat Finland, win the gold medal and inspire the movie, Miracle.
It seems like stories like these can come in any shape or form. Every story described above can store inspiration in their own right. However, there's one central lesson: overcoming the odds can be done. Any team can look at these stories and have the belief that they can replicate the feat. The sky is the limit for any team/individual athlete.