Her graciousness in defeat may even have made her more popular than she would have been in victory.

He lost the championship in his next fight, with Louis, but remained a heroic figure for his gritty style and graciousness in defeat.

And about 3 P.M. yesterday, the Mayor chatted with President Bush, who invited him to lunch at the White House and complimented him on his graciousness in defeat.

In Ms. Hughes's world, George Bush's trouncing by Senator John McCain in the New Hampshire primary in 2000 showed his graciousness in defeat.

But to think that Mr. Ashcroft's graciousness in defeat would soothe the partisan fires was to misunderstand how much this nomination would come to be the focus of all the anger remaining from the way the 2000 election ended.

It seemed that the good sense to exude graciousness in defeat had arrived for Hedrick, too late to fix the ugly episode that erupted with his fellow American skater Shani Davis after Davis pulled out of the team pursuit, but before Hedrick left the Games.

In a show of courage, an obviously gutted Seton conducted an interview on Racecam with Channel 7 showing graciousness in defeat while the race continued with cameras in the pits showing his father Bo, head in hands not wanting to believe the race was lost after they were so close to winning.