Between Victory and Defeat

After enjoyable & relaxing lunch with Mayumi at the butler's cafe(do I visit there too much??,) I went to the In-house speech contest of the Toastmasters.

Three years ago, when I became a contestant of Toastmasters speech contest in America, I kept winning, and went to the mid-west contest. However, today...I was eliminated at the first preliminary contest. I was the third place out of four contestants!

Frankly speaking, I didn't expect that. I'm not a very confident person, but as for this In-house speech contest, there had been only me who raised hands to be a contestant.
I needed some speakers to compete, so officers pushed some members to be contestants, so they decided to be at the last minute.

I prepared more than other contestants (maybe,) but the winner was not me.
Isn't it miserable?I mustered my courage to listen to my speech on my IC recorder.
Then, I understood why I didn't win.
I spoke too fast because I was nervous at the contest's atmosphere...so, it was hard to catch up some points.
My script didn't enough to convey my main message.
I knew personal stories and strong universal messages are the most important at the speech contest, but I think I failed the two points.

I felt tired to go to the social hour that we always do after meetings, but I went out.
When I felt my speech was not successful, I'm forced to talk with members because I want to listen to their advise.
Members were so kind that they said,"Your speech was really good. But the best speaker is not always supposed to win by the current judging system."
"I know you are very good at delivering, but there were many new judges, and they didn't know exactly how to judge."

...I was reminded of winter Olympic games.
I've heard many stories from winners and losers. I know, the result is not everything.
Some of the losers are satisfied with themselves regardless the result.

But, what are there between victory and defeat? What makes them winners and losers?
I seldom think about that (athletes always do,) but it was a great experience for me to have an opportunity to think about that.