Top 10 premature celebrations in sport

Julian Simon waved a lap too early. Photo / Supplied

Don't you hate it when you think you've won and, hang on a minute, you haven't. Like Julian Simon's acutely dumb-ass celebration of victory last weekend - which cost him victory and which is one of the great YouTube views as you watch the faces of his crew. So here's 10 classic cases from the world of sport, when the celebrations were a little premature:

10. Lindsey Jacobellis, Women's Snowboard Cross, Turin 2006.

The talented American didn't do her sport a great service in its bid to be taken seriously as an Olympic discipline when she decided to showboat on the penultimate jump while holding a massive lead over Switzerland's Tanja Frieden.

Guess what? She fell. At first she tried to say she was trying to stabilise the board but later admitted she was showing off. "I was having fun. Snowboarding is fun. I was feeling great that I was ahead. I wanted to share with the crowd my enthusiasm. I messed up, and oh well, it happens."

It was the first time the discipline had featured at the Olympics but it was only the first of hundreds of thousands of views of Jacobellis' misfortune, which has become a YouTube favourite. - Dylan Cleaver

9. Julian Simon, 125cc Catalunya GP, 2009

After a see-saw battle with Andrea Iannone, Simon eased off the gas and saluted the confused crowd as he crossed the finish line last weekend. The only thing wrong with that was, there was still one lap to go. One lap later, he finished second, having been overtaken by Iannone.

"I reacted too hastily," Simon said. "I ... should have known better when I didn't see the chequered flag when I crossed the line." Yes, that's how it normally works. - Dylan Cleaver

8. Patrik Stefan, Dallas Stars v Edmonton Oilers, 2007

Dallas led a wild one 5-4 with 13 seconds to play when Patrik Stefan received the puck on his own with no goaltender to beat and not a defender in sight. Instead of shooting, he decides to skate the puck all the way into the net, only to see it hop over his stick less than a metre from the goal. The Oilers recovered the puck with less than 10s left and went the length of the ice to score and take the game into overtime.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen," boomed commentator Ray Ferraro. "Patrik Stefan, you should be embarrassed by what you just did."

You think?

Stefan at least brought a bit of perspective to the occasion, which saw his team win an overtime shootout.

"They may show it a million times for years to come," said Stefan. "I mean, we came out with the two points so it's easy to laugh about it right now." - Dylan Cleaver

7. Willie Shoemaker, Kentucky Derby, 1957

The Shoe won four Kentucky Derbies, including as a 54-year-old aboard 18-1 outsider Ferdinand in 1986, but it was the one he didn't win for which he is best remembered. Riding Gallant Man, Shoemaker misjudged where the finish line was and stood up in his stirrups too early, allowing Iron Liege to pip him at the post.

6. Adriana Pirtea, Chicago Marathon, 2007

After running 41.5kms you probably feel you owe yourself a few high fives and slaps on the back with the crowd on the final approach to the finish of a searingly hot Chicago marathon. So that's what Romanian Pirtea treated herself to.

Unfortunately 2006 winner Berhane Adere, from Ethiopia, hadn't quite given up. Partially aided by male runners who shielded her blistering finish, but mainly aided by Pirtea's ridiculous rookie mistake, Adere sprinted past to finish three seconds ahead. - Dylan Cleaver

5. The All Blacks, World Cup, 1999

There is a litany of embarrassingly premature All Blacks ejections from the World Cup, and Graham Henry's kiss of death to his captain before the French farce last weekend looked a little premature, but there has been nothing quite as cringing as the leaked plans for a tickertape parade down Queen St for the triumphant All Blacks in 99.

Pays to win the thing first. - Dylan Cleaver

4. Petria Thomas and the Australian women's relay team, world championships, 2001.

"Oh, the girls have jumped in - ho, ho" trilled an excited Australian swimming commentator after Thomas, Linda McKenzie, Giaan Rooney and Linda McKenzie prematurely celebrated their way out of a world championship gold medal for the 4x200m freestyle relay in Japan.

Thomas led the aquatic celebrations but didn't notice that she jumped in while the stragglers were still finishing. That's vvtan automatic disqualification and the shocked, disbelieving looks of the Australian team - being interviewed by Channel Nine at the time - can be seen in full graphic colour on YouTube. Forgive our schadenfreude but the Australian commentators had just been having a bit of a snigger at the US disqualification for an incorrect changeover. - Paul Lewis

3. Herschelle Gibbs, 1999 World Cup, Leeds

There's a couple of well-worn myths about his purler, when Gibbs dropped a sitter off Steve Waugh as he tried to throw it in the air to celebrate.

Myth One: It was during the thriller of a semifinal that Australia won by running out Allan Donald off the match's penultimate ball with the scores tied.

Reality: It was in an equally thrilling Super Sixes match, a match that Australia needed to win to qualify for the semifinals, which South Africa had already done.

Myth Two: Waugh responded by uttering, "You've just dropped the World Cup," in what would have been a priceless sledge.

Reality: In his autobiography, Out of My Comfort Zone, Waugh claims he never said it, but did say he had warned his teammates not to walk off too early when Gibbs caught them because he let go of the ball too quickly after catching it.

Having said that, Waugh went on to win the match for Australia, propelling them to the semifinal where they beat the hitherto brilliant Africans. On balance, in dropping Waugh, Gibbs basically dropped the World Cup.

2. Jeff Wilson & George Gregan, Bledisloe Cup, Sydney, 1994.

How we hooted; hollered; danced and leapt for joy - but when Kiwis all around the globe landed back on our feet, the joyous celebrations were stuck in our throats like Weetbix without milk. Jeff Wilson was scoring one of the great All Black tries, his last-minute touchdown winning the match and sealing one of the great All Black comebacks. But wait...what's this?. A little black bloke - with hair - arrives at the crucial moment and knocks the ball free. It's not a try. The Aussies win. Arrrgh. Around the world, Kiwis discovered the horror of celebrating before the ball is forced; rugby rivals laughed up their sleeves at us; and the world greeted George Gregan - never one of the world's great halfbacks but undeniably a world-class player. - Paul Lewis

1. US Men's basketball, gold medal playoff, 1972 Munich Olympics

The daddy of them all. This was more than a basketball match, it was the manifestation of the Cold War and, darn it, those underhand Ruskies snuck in and stole it at the death. Cheated though. Well, maybe not the Russians themselves but the officials.

A quick recap. Russia lead by one when Doug Collins is fouled hard with just three seconds remaining. He makes both free throws (perhaps the greatest pair of pressure free throws ever made), so the US lead by one. The trouble was that a siren appeared to sound as Collins was in shooting motion for his second shot. The Russian bench insisted this was them calling a time out because rules dictated they could not take one after the second shot. When Collins made the shot the ball was put in play by Russia who dribbled to half court and until just 1s was left on the clock before an official stopped play as the Russians made a commotion. After much dispute the officials, probably wrongly, allowed Russia to inbound the ball again with 3s left. However the clock was not reset properly and as the Russia pass was tipped harmlessly out of play, the siren went and the US players started dancing and hugging in scenes of unrestrained glee as they believed the match was over and contemplated a gold medal.

Imagine their disbelief when, over the tannoy, they heard the crowd being exhorted: "Please keep off [the court]. There are another three seconds."

On the third attempt, Ivan Edeshko, who appeared to be assisted in gaining a clear passing lane by the referee, heaved it to Aleksandr Belov who knocked over two defenders to win the ball and make the uncontested lay-up.

Cue another round of pandemonium.

The US immediately protested. In case you think the Cold war reference at the start was a little over the top, Puerto Rico and Italy voted to uphold the US protest, Poland, Hungary and Cuba voted in favour of the USSR.