I have an uncle, had, he passed away, that was an alternate for the 1936 US Olympic team. He was a sprinter, 100 meters, 200 meters. He didn't go to Berlin but was on call in case the team needed another sprinter due to illness, or injury, etc. He had run against Jesse Owens many times. Never beat him, but he was there, on the same track, racing the fastest man in the world at that time. Was he a success or a failure? And if you consider his track career a success, is that different because the 100, and 200, are individual events, not like football which is a team sport? I say it's different. I say my uncle was a success because as an individual he went almost as far as you can go. But in a team sport, almost isn't good enough. The individual players on a team can be successful because they got to play at the highest level. But a team has to win it all.