I think JonBenet did pretty well in her pageants. I know that she was crowned Little Miss Christmas, Little Miss Colorado, and Little Miss Charlevoix, which would mean she was the top winner. I guess it depends on what is considering "losing" a pageant. If you win your division but not overall, did you lose? Patsy seems like the type that would consider that losing. I don't know if I would say that John is trying to rewrite history. I don't think he even knows much about what pageants JonBenet won or lost, and just think it's a good story to go along with his medal.
If you look back in the archives of her photos (there used to be lots available on ACR), you will see a very different-looking little girl at age 3 when she started the pageants (I believe right after Patsy's chemo ended) than when she died. And I am not talking about the age progression that is of course, part of the changing appearance of every child as they age.
When JB began, she had sandy brown hair, and her natural color eyes. She was a cute, but not stunning, little girl. I would imaging her singing, dancing, violin, French lessons had not yet begun. I would suppose that she did not win many of those early pageants, at least not the grand prize. I am sure that is what JR refers to.
Later on, as JB began to be more and more "glamorized" by Patsy (the hair extensions, blonde highlights, blue eyes (her were green in real life), over-the-top costumes, dance lessons and pageant coaching she probably won almost all of them. I had read long ago that some mothers pulled their daughters out of a pageant if they knew that JB was competing. There was no point- they knew she'd win.
These pageant circuits tend to have pretty much the same little girls competing. Some will travel all over for various contests, especially the less popular contests, because they might be easier to win and the child can begin their "collection" of trophies and tiaras.
I do not intend any disrespect here to the children (or the dogs) but dog shows operate the same way. Before a dog ever gets to compete at Westminster, they have had many, many smaller shows and titles behind them. And handlers often find themselves competing against the same dogs over and over again. The only difference is that with the dog shows, there is point system that qualifies the dog to compete at higher levels. ALL the dogs at Westminster (and Crufts, in the UK) are already champions. They have already won best of breed, best of show, or best opposite at other shows. (Best opposite means that if the top dog is male, the top female, thought not the winner, is named best opposite (sex) and vice versa if the winner is a female).
With Miss America, Miss USA, etc. there are also divisions that have to be won before you get to compete for the top title. (State, County and local pageants come first). With the child pageants, I don't think that is the case. You don't have to be a previous winner to compete for the top crown. But I bet it helps.