The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat

E130514

English-language phrase sports broadcasting catchphrase television catchphrase

"The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" is a famous ABC Sports catchphrase that encapsulated the emotional highs and lows of athletic competition, popularized by the program Wide World of Sports.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
"Wide World of Sports" tagline "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat"	1
The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat canonical	1
iconic opening phrase "the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat"	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1142261 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat
Context triple: [ABC Sports, notableSlogan, The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat]

A. Victory
Victory is a public transit station code used within the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system, identifying Victory Station in Dallas, Texas.
B. The Victors
"The Victors" is the iconic fight song of the University of Michigan, widely recognized as one of the most famous and triumphant college football anthems in the United States.
C. For the Win
For the Win is a young adult science fiction novel by Cory Doctorow that explores online gaming, virtual economies, and global labor activism.
D. City of Champions
City of Champions is the nickname of Brockton, Massachusetts, known for its rich boxing history and producing legendary fighters like Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler.
E. Invictus
Invictus is a 2009 sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood that tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s use of the South African rugby team to help unite the country after the end of apartheid.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat
Target entity description: "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" is a famous ABC Sports catchphrase that encapsulated the emotional highs and lows of athletic competition, popularized by the program Wide World of Sports.

A. Victory
Victory is a public transit station code used within the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system, identifying Victory Station in Dallas, Texas.
B. The Victors
"The Victors" is the iconic fight song of the University of Michigan, widely recognized as one of the most famous and triumphant college football anthems in the United States.
C. For the Win
For the Win is a young adult science fiction novel by Cory Doctorow that explores online gaming, virtual economies, and global labor activism.
D. City of Champions
City of Champions is the nickname of Brockton, Massachusetts, known for its rich boxing history and producing legendary fighters like Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler.
E. Invictus
Invictus is a 2009 sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood that tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s use of the South African rugby team to help unite the country after the end of apartheid.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (36)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	English-language phrase ⓘ sports broadcasting catchphrase ⓘ television catchphrase ⓘ
associatedWith	ABC Sports ⓘ iconic ski-jump crash footage in ABC Wide World of Sports opening ⓘ television sports montages ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
culturalImpact	became a widely recognized expression beyond sports broadcasting ⓘ
describes	emotional highs and lows of athletic competition ⓘ
format	narrated line in program introduction ⓘ
genre	sports broadcasting ⓘ
hasPart	"agony of defeat" ⓘ "thrill of victory" ⓘ
hasTheme	competition ⓘ defeat ⓘ emotion in sports ⓘ sportsmanship ⓘ victory ⓘ
influenced	later sports broadcasting taglines emphasizing drama of competition ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
medium	television ⓘ
network	American Broadcasting Company ⓘ
notableFor	contrast between winning and losing ⓘ memorable phrasing ⓘ
partOf	ABC Wide World of Sports opening ⓘ
popularizedBy	ABC Wide World of Sports ⓘ linked to: ABC Sports
rhetoricalDevice	antithesis ⓘ parallelism ⓘ
timePeriodOfPeakPopularity	1960s ⓘ 1970s ⓘ 1980s ⓘ
topic	athletic performance ⓘ spectator experience ⓘ
usedAs	tagline for ABC Wide World of Sports ⓘ
usedIn	ABC Wide World of Sports ⓘ linked to: ABC Sports
usedTo	introduce weekly sports highlights on ABC Wide World of Sports ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

ABC Sports → notableSlogan → The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat ⓘ

subject linked to: ABC Sports (historical brand)

ABC Sports → slogan → "Wide World of Sports" tagline "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" ⓘ

linked to: The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat

Wide World of Sports → notableFor → iconic opening phrase "the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" ⓘ