History Main / SecondPlaceIsForWinners

* In a ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' comic story, Po is finally getting the best of his old rival, Heng, a pig who used to cruelly taunt him in any competition he put them in when they were kids. However, he remembers after one race he lost against Heng, his own father, Mr. Ping, warmly congratulated him for doing his best, while Heng was coldly berated by his own parents for being too slow ''despite'' having just won. At that, Po realized that Heng was emotionally abused and decides to deliberately lose the current race as he knows he has nothing to prove.

* Similar to the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' example above, there's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' where Hiccup deliberately comes in second, because his father is proud of his efforts, while Snotlout's father blames him for even allowing anyone else to score as much as one point.

* LetsPlay/PartyCrashers:

** {{Discussed}} in their ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhwXCJtpf-8 video]], where the others decide that getting 2nd place is the real victory due to how good Brent is at the game.

** Note that it had been made clear beforehand that passing the exam was not dependent on winning the tournament. That Shikamaru managed to fight well enough, yet had the levelheadedness to concede when he reached his limits, led to him being the only one who actually passed the exam anyway. Though with the tournament being interrupted in the midst of the final match of the opening round by [[spoiler:the Sound-Sand invasion of Konoha]], it's impossible to know whether anybody else would've been able to impress the examiners enough for promotion. Since there's no limit on the number that can earn the promotion from Genin to Chunin, this wouldn't have changed anything for Shikamaru, but it's likely that at least some other people would've been promoted too.

** [[spoiler:Though Ash ultimately lost at the finals during the Lumiose Conference, he fares better than the actual victor, Alain. During the League ceremony, Team Flare launch their attack upon Lumiose City. Alain, being involved with Team Flare, suffers the worst kind of loss when he realizes that his entire goal was a lie, and his boss Lysandre only cares about power, ignoring Mega Evolution in favor of a potentially more powerful Bond Phenomenon that Ash possesses. In the aftermath of the Flare crisis, Ash is constantly recognized and praised by young trainers as the Conference League finalist while Alain quietly rebuilds his life with Prof. Sycamore, and privately admits Ash to be the superior trainer. Since the League ceremony wasn't finished when Team Flare attacked, it is heavily modified and officially makes everyone who stood against Lysandre champions of the Kalos League, rendering the League results moot.]]
* At the end of ''Anime/PrincessNine'' [[spoiler:the girls' baseball team loses to the boys' team from their same school, in the playoff game that was right before Koshien. They're not all that upset about it, considering they pulled together nine people in a matter of weeks and made it that far when most of the administration was saying that they were a disaster waiting to happen.]]

** There's a Scrooge [=McDuck=] story where the Billionaire's Club announces a variety of extravagant, chess-themed prizes for whoever makes the most money during the year... a gold-and-platinum chess-set for the first place, a gold-and-silver chess-set for the second place, and a silver-and-bronze chess-set for third place. And, as a consolation-prize for whoever makes the ''least'' money during the year, an Ebony pawn and a waived membership fee (said fee had just been raised by a small percentage, causing Scrooge to faint). At this announcement, Scrooge declares his intention to win the Last Prize, no matter the cost, with most of his colleagues assuming that he'd just gone nuts due to the increased membership-fee. Of course, even when he ''tries'' to lose money, he can't manage it -- and in the end, he had to put WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck in charge of his business-empire for a month in order to drive down his stock-prices sufficiently to wind up dead last. Having finally succeeded, he reveals to Donald the ''[[UnspokenPlanGuarantee real]]'' reason he was after the consolation-prize: [[spoiler:The Ebony Pawn is actually an antique, originally part of a gem-encrusted chess-set owned by the Queen of Sheba. Said chess-set was in his possession, and with the last, missing pawn restored, the total value of the now-complete, historic chess-set redoubles sufficiently to more than make up for the losses he suffered during the contest.]]

** In one story, a billionaire is selling a small house he has by the beach and, under the belief he means his [[BigFancyHouse beach manor]] and being arrogant about how he describes it, Scrooge [=McDuck=] and Flintheart Glomgold want to buy it. Since neither of them is willing to pay more than one million dollars, the billionaire will sell the place to the buyer who defeats the other buyer in a game of rock-paper-scissors and they'll have one day to decide what each one will call. Scrooge's spies find out what Glomgold will call, but his nephews find out the "small house" is an old and broken place instead of the manor as initially assumed, and Scrooge decides to lose the game on purpose. [[spoiler:Subverted because Glomgold finds a treasure in the place and it's worth ''ten'' million dollars.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheMoonstoneCup'': Twilight figures that she won't win the eponymous Moonstone Cup', given that no one has ever won from her age division. Trixie berates her for such a defeatist attitude. [[spoiler:Despite the fact that it was ''her'' strategy too, as one of the entrants was an undefeated wolf god who considers himself a peer to Celestia and Luna -- [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu whom Twilight narrowly defeats in the final]].]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10390405/1/Learning-to-fly Learning To Fly]]'', Astrid and Hiccup both compete in the All-Viking Tournament at an annual meeting of the various Viking tribes. Despite being considered underdogs due to their smaller size (and Hiccup's peg leg) they both make their way into the finals, a four-person melee. Hiccup and Astrid each manage to defeat their respective opponents, and find themselves facing each other as the finalists. [[spoiler:When he realizes that Astrid had broken her arm during her bout, but that she's still holding her axe in her good hand, Hiccup drops his sword, ceding the match to Astrid. Stoick congratulates Hiccup on taking the honorable route rather than attacking an injured opponent. Considering that he didn't expect to make it past the first round, Hiccup was quite pleased with his performance.]]

* Happens to Lightning [=McQueen=] at the end of ''WesternAnimation/Cars1''. In this case, however, [[spoiler:Lightning sabotages his own win. He was well ahead and could easily have dropped the chequered flag, but seems to have chosen not to win a race in which the reigning champ had been unfairly taken out. So it ends with Chick in first, The King in second, and Lightning in third. [[TheRunnerUpTakesItAll The King has his dignity restored, Lightning is praised for his sportsmanship]], and Chick's victory is [[MeaninglessVillainVictory rendered meaningless]] because no one is going to sponsor someone so publicly amoral and unsportsmanlike.]]

* The Iranian movie ''Film/ChildrenOfHeaven'' concerns a boy who loses his sister's shoes. The family is too poor to buy another pair, so the boy decides to enter a race where shoes are the third prize. Unfortunately, he places first. [[spoiler:He eventually goes on to a racing career, and his father (who was unaware of her missing shoes or his son's plan) buys her a new pair due to getting a raise on his new job.]]
* ''Film/CoolRunnings'': In the end, the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team ultimately [[spoiler:loses the competition because of a faulty sled]], but their determination allowed them to win the respect of both the crowd and the other Olympic teams.

* The first ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' and ''Film/RockyBalboa''. They bookend the saga with this trope. In the first movie, he's trying to make a name for himself and prove to the world that he belongs. In the last, he wants one last great fight so he can retire with honor. In each [[spoiler:he loses by decision against a heavily -- and rightfully -- favored undefeated opponent, but the moral victory was in having gone the distance.]]

* Happens twice in ''Film/{{Rush 2013}}'', once for Niki Lauda and once for James Hunt. In Lauda's case, [[spoiler:finishing fourth just six weeks after his near-fatal crash]]. In Hunt's case [[spoiler:finishing 3rd in the Japanese Grand Prix earns him enough points to win the World Championship over Lauda (with a margin of one point)]]. And again with regards to Niki: [[spoiler:he may have gotten second to James, but he was alive to try again. He tells Marlene he has no regrets.]]
* In ''Film/SilverLiningsPlaybook'', Pat and Tiffany enter a dance competition. Tiffany is a good dancer but not professional caliber, and Pat has never done anything like this before at all, he's just doing it because he owes Tiffany a favor. Them winning the competition is unimaginable, but Pat's father bets a large amount of money on their getting an average score of 5 or better out of 10. [[spoiler:That's exactly what they get. When their family and friends go absolutely nuts, the judges and other contestants and fans are baffled at anyone being so thrilled by such a low score.]]

* There's an old riddle about an eccentric millionaire who offers his estate to his two sons, but the catch is that they must have a horse race and whomever's horse finished second would get the prize. They initially start out dawdling along as slowly as can be, but after several days of this, they come to a plan and race full speed to the finish. How? [[spoiler:[[ExactWords Whomever's horse finished second.]] They switched horses.]]

* Something like this is part of the premise of ''Series/BlueMountainState.'' The main character Alex Moran is the team's second string quarterback, and he wouldn't have it any other way. He gets all the fame and benefits of being on a high-ranking team, but doesn't have to do any of the work. [[spoiler:It winds up being subverted in the third season when Alex becomes the starting QB and finds that being the starter on a winning team, while requiring more work, is ultimately more rewarding. After being suspended from the national championship, he tries to drink his sorrows away only to find he doesn't enjoy it as much as before because he's "had the taste of winning".]]

* In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', the company is bought out by a rival and the CEO decides that Michael and Jim being co-managers is a stupid idea. She will leave one as manager and demote the other back to salesman. Jim finds out that the new company does not have a commission cap for its salesmen, so if he gets demoted he can make way more money than the manager. Since he hates being a manager, he tries to make sure that Michael will get the job. However, Michael finds this out and decides that he wants the demotion as well. Hilarity ensues until [[spoiler:Michael realizes that he prefers the extra status over the money]].
* On ''Series/DanForMayor'', Dan enters the race for mayor of Wessex in order to show his ex-girlfriend that he is not a complete loser. By election day [[spoiler:they got back together and are planning to move to Vancouver where she is was offered a great new job]]. The main candidate is way ahead of him in polls and Dan's main concern is to beat out Wheelo (a clown) for second place. [[spoiler:The main candidate drops out in the last moment and Dan wins]]

* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "A Game of Pool", Jesse Cardiff, a bitter pool player tired of being overshadowed by the memory of late legendary pool player Fats Brown is offered the chance to become a legend himself when Fats Brown returns from the afterlife to answer his challenge. Jesse defeats Fats and becomes the new pool legend. What great reward does Jesse get in the end? [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream Spending eternity]] [[IronicHell defending his pool title until he loses.]]]] The original story (and remake of the episode) defies this trope, however: Cardiff loses the match and Brown makes it clear before disappearing that Cardiff's destiny is to become a forgotten has-been. So no matter what, Cardiff just can't win.

* The [[Anime/YuGiOh Duelist Kingdom tournament]] in ''Roleplay/NothingIsSacred'' actually has ''three'' prizes. The winner can receive a cash prize of three million yen, or an even greater prize by defeating Maximillion Pegasus. However, if one doesn't desire money and has no interest in facing a [[{{Telepathy}} mind reader]] in [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame the game he literally created]], then the third set of prizes hidden on the island will be the most appealing: [[spoiler:two [[Characters/YugiohGXCards Legendary Planet]] cards]].

* WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm sees a rare fictional example of the first place being so far ahead [[spoiler: or rather, blackmailing the other racers]] that everyone else just competes for second place.

** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7u3THzJ7Ns This Mario Party CPU lost me $100]]" and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk4tlLanDhY we bet money on Mario Party CPUs]]", [[spoiler:despite placing in 2nd place on both videos, Nick still ended up gaining the most amount of money with $150, as he gained $50 in the former and $100 in the latter. In comparison, Sophist only made $100, as he lost $100 in the former but made $200 in the latter, Vernias didn't make any profit whatsoever, as he made $100 in the former but lost $100 in the latter, and Brent lost a whopping $250, as he lost $50 in the former and $200 in the latter.]]

** {{Discussed}} in their ''Mario Kart 64'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhwXCJtpf-8 video]], where the others decide that getting 2nd place is the real victory due to how good Brent is at the game.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''LetsPlay/PartyCrashers'':

* Several other athletes also deliberately threw or purposely didn't give it their all in order to focus on events they specialized in. It all came to a head when in the Track and Field event, a French and Algerian runner didn't try their hardest in order to focus on their specialist events, and only the Algerian was initially disqualified under the "fair play" rule, and the British track cycling team crashed on purpose to take advantage of a loophole. [[DoubleStandard Only the non-white athletes were subject to scrutiny under the "honest effort" rules.]]

* Dicing for the Maid's Money is an annual tradition at Guildhall, Surrey, where two "poor servant maids of good report" (which these days is usually interpreted to mean some form of care worker - the staff of "inns and hotels" are specifically excluded) play dice for a bequest left by a John How on his death in 1676, comprising the year's interest on an investment of £400. At some point, a similar bequest[[note]]Originally intended for a young man who was apprentenced for seven years but possesses less than £20, but it's less clear what the modern equivalent of that would be[[/note]] by a John Parsons who died in 1703 was added to the ceremony as a runner-up prize. Parsons' bequest is the interest on £600.