[1] Bogataj competed as a Yugoslav entrant at the ski flying event in Oberstdorf, West Germany on 7 March 1970.

He attempted to lower his center of gravity and slow his jump, but instead lost his balance completely and hurtled out of control off the end of the inrun, tumbling and flipping wildly, and crashing through a light retaining fence near a crowd of spectators before coming to a halt.

The show featured an opening narration by host Jim McKay over a montage of sports clips, and co-ordinating producer Dennis Lewin inserted the footage of the crash to coincide with the words "...and the agony of defeat."

Throughout the show's long history, various images were used for the other parts of the narration, including for "the thrill of victory...", which directly preceded the above phrase and was often accompanied by images of the celebrating team at the most recent Super Bowl or World Cup, but after that point, the "agony of defeat" was always illustrated by Bogataj's failed jump.

[2] He received the loudest ovation of any athlete introduced at the gala,[2] and attendees such as Muhammad Ali asked him for his autograph.