Bogataj competed as a
Yugoslav entrant at the
ski flying event in
Oberstdorf,
West Germany on 7 March 1970. A light snow had begun falling at the start of the competition, and by the time Bogataj was ready for his third jump on the
Heini Klopfer hill, the snow had become quite heavy. Midway down the inrun for his jump, Bogataj realised that the conditions had made the ramp too fast. 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. Bogataj suffered a mild
concussion and a broken ankle. A film crew from
Wide World of Sports was recording the event in which Bogataj crashed. 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. ==Later life==