KEY POINTS:
Feel like you've seen Kiwis pipped at the post time and time again this Olympics? You have - five times, in fact.
For every one who triumphed to win a bronze in Beijing, another has missed out by a whisker.
New Zealand will end the Olympics with five fourth placings, and six Olympic athletes who have come achingly close to a medal.
Moss Burmester had the first near-miss with his New Zealand-record-breaking swim in the 200m butterfly. He swam the race of his life but was overtaken in the final metres, just missing out on coming third to newly minted superstar Michael Phelps.
Burmester hoped for a quicker time but didn't fret about what might have been, saying he could not have given the race anything more.
And if he secretly wishes there was a medal for fourth, he won't be the only one. Three days later it was rowers Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen finishing just behind the world's top trio in the men's double sculls.
Next, cyclist Alison Shanks was beaten in the ride-off for bronze in the 3000m individual pursuit. And on Friday, BMX biker Sarah Walker and kayaker Ben Fouhy had their medal hopes dashed when they finished fourth in their respective finals.
Walker was left in tears after she finished just over one-tenth of a second off third place in the first Olympic BMX final. But by the next day, she was planning her comeback in London in four years.
Fouhy also refused to grumble about his near-miss. He felt his race was a personal triumph, after a wobbly run-up to the K1 1000m finals.
There's no doubt five more medals would have come in handy in the final tally. Five extra bronzes would have taken our medal count to 14, pushing us from 23rd to 17th on the total medal tally.
But those who just missed out can always say they were following a fine Kiwi tradition. Of New Zealand's first Olympic team of four athletes in 1920, one won a medal and another narrowly missed out with a close fourth placing. Darcy Hadfield's bronze in the single sculls was balanced by Harry Wilson's near miss in the 110m hurdles. It's just a shame there were no medals for fourth.
