He renewed relations with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and aid from rich countries to buoy Guyana's economy, which once vied with Haiti's for the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

Not long afterward, boxing started to decline in popularity, and a sport that once vied for attention with baseball, basketball, and football now has to duke it out with mixed martial arts.

In this rare air, companies once vied fiercely to sign the new face, the silky silhouette or the hot attitude judged most capable of sparking sales of the latest $100-plus pair of shoes.

Nearing his 70th birthday, the gray-haired Schenkel now works for ABC solely on bowling, which once vied for his network time with the Olympic events, pro basketball, golf and football.

The reporters who once vied for interviews have stopped calling.

Otley once vied with a handful of towns for the distinction of having the most pubs per head of population in England.

Once upon a time in a faraway land, where princes once vied and heroes died, where questers set out and there were trolls and the stories seemed to come straight from the stone, a child of the aristocracy was born.

But Laos, which once vied with Myanmar as the most restrictive Southeast Asian country for tourism, decided to get tourist-friendly about two years ago, around the time it joined Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In the adjacent town of Deer Park, students once vied to nab a toupee from the head of a teacher.

The question surfaces often among yachtsmen who remember the beauty and elegance of the 68-foot sailboats that once vied for the America's Cup.