OLYMPICS: Iconic figures and moments

Throughout the 'Modern' Olympics, there have been those Olympians who have made there mark because of Memorable moments and /or iconic achievements
With this years Olympics about to be upon us:-
(Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will begin on
Friday 23 July 2021 - and ends on -Sunday.8 August)

I thought I'd start a thread to post images and facts about some, feel free to add your own and/or personal recollections

 

1936: = The Nazi Games:

1936 Summer Olympics - Wikipedia

 

BUT = Then there was Jesse:


Jesse Owens - Wikipedia

 

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Sir, Steve Redgrave, CBE DL:

Winner of 5 gold medals at 5 consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000.
He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships golds.
He is the most successful male rower in Olympic history, and the only man to have won gold medals at five Olympic Games in an endurance sport.
Steve Redgrave - Wikipedia

 

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1960: ROME = Cassius Clay in Gold for the U,S.A.
, , ,
Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He began training as an amateur boxer at age 12.
At 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics and turned professional later that year.

On March 6, 1964, he announced that he no longer would be known as Cassius Clay but as Muhammad Ali.

 

However - Upon his return:
The year was 1960. Louisville was his hometown, a city that was firmly segregationist.

Standing on the Second Street Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky, he did something that for most people would be unimaginable — he hurled an Olympic Gold Medal into the depths of the Ohio River.
In his autobiography, “The Greatest,” first published in 1975, Ali wrote that he threw his gold medal over the Jefferson County Bridge in his native Louisville and into the Ohio River in disgust.
It happened minutes after Ali and a friend fought a man from a motorcycle gang who wanted to steal it.

 

AND, then in 1996 = Ali returns:
. . . . .
Olympic Moments: Muhammad Ali lights Atlanta flame - BBC Sport
Despite the difficulty, Ali tremoring with Parkinson's. lit the torch at the 1996 Olympics on Atlanta.
Muhammad Ali lights the the Olympic Flame at Atlanta 1996 - YouTube

 

1972: Munich, Germany = The Darkest day in Olympian history:
The games when terrorists made an attack on the Israeli Olympic team members
The attack was orchestrated by affiliates of the Palestinian militant group Black September.

. . .
Palestinian terrorists appearing on a balcony in the Munich Olympic Village, where members of the Israeli team were being held hostage.

Munich massacre - Wikipedia

 

1984: Los Angeles: Lewis leads the way
. . . . .
Frederick Carlton Lewis was one of the world's greatest athletes of all time.
The American former track and field athlete won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold.
His career spanned from 1979 to 1996,

Carl Lewis - Wikipedia

 

1966-1986 . . . =. . . Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence:

Cuban amateur boxer, who competed from 1966 to 1986.
He won the Val Barker Trophy and was honoured with the Olympic Order.
Stevenson is one of only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals,
alongside Hungarian László Papp . - , -, - ,- ,and fellow Cuban Félix Savón
. . . . .
and fellow Cuban Félix Savón.
- - He might have become a five-time Olympic champion had the Cuban authorities allowed the Cuban boxing team to participate in the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, which they boycotted
Teófilo Stevenson - Wikipedia

 

1976: Montreal: Nadia = A Perfect 10:

The Romanian retired gymnast was a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events.
At the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games.
. . . .
At the same Games (1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal), she received six more perfect 10s for events en route to winning three gold medals.
At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Comăneci won two more gold medals and attained two more perfect 10s.
.
During her career, Comăneci won nine Olympic medals and four World Artistic Gymnastics Championship medals.

Nadia Comăneci - Wikipedia

 

1972: Mark Spitz = Super Swimmer:

American Swimmer who was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, all in world record time.
This achievement that lasted for 36 years until it was surpassed by fellow American Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Mark Spitz - Wikipedia

 

2008: Michael Phelps = The 'Flying Fish' passes Spitz:

Phelps is (to date) the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time. with a total of 28 medals.
He also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23),
A the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps had already tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games by winning six gold and two bronze medals.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals,

*And at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver, which made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.

Michael Phelps - Wikipedia

 

1984 Winter Olympic Gold Medalists

 

1984: Trip Stumble and Fall:
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In the 1984 Olympics, held in Los Angeles, California, the media billed the 3000 m race as a duel between Budd and world champion Mary Decker, and few reported that a third contestant, Romanian Maricica Puică, had set the fastest time that year.
- Decker set a fast pace from the gun with Budd in close pursuit, followed by Puică and Britain's Wendy Smith-Sly.
- When the pace slowed just past the midway point, Budd took the lead on the straight and ran wide of the pack around the turn.
- Setting the pace, she took herself, Decker, Smith-Sly and Puică clear of the pack.
- Running as a group was an unusual situation for Budd and Decker, both of whom were used to running in front and well ahead of other competitors.
- At 1700 metres, the first collision occurred. Decker came into contact with one of Budd's legs, knocking Budd slightly off balance. However, both women maintained their close position.
- Five strides on, at race time of 4:58, Budd and Decker again made contact, with Budd's left foot brushing Decker's thigh, causing Budd to lose her balance and sending her into Decker's path.
- Decker's spiked running shoe came down hard into Budd's ankle, just above the heel, drawing blood. Videotapes later examined by Olympic officials showed Budd visibly in pain. However, Budd maintained equilibrium and kept stride.

- Decker stood on Budd, then shortly after, collided with the British runner and fell spectacularly to the curb, injuring her hip. As a result, Mary Decker did not finish the race.
- Decker was carried off the track in tears by her boyfriend (and later, husband), British discus thrower Richard Slaney.

- Budd, deeply affected by the occurrence, continued to lead for a while, but faded, finishing seventh.
- Her finishing time of 8:48 was well outside her best of 8:37. Budd tried to apologise to Decker in the tunnel after the race, but Decker was upset, and replied, "Don’t bother!".
- Puică won with Sly second and Canada's Lynn Williams third.

An IAAF jury found that she was not responsible for the collision. Decker said many years after the event: "The reason I fell, some people think she tripped me deliberately. I happen to know that wasn’t the case at all. The reason I fell is because I am and was very inexperienced in running in a pack."

In general, it is the trailing athlete's responsibility to avoid contact with the runner ahead; whether or not Budd had sufficient control of the race to have pulled into the curve as she naturally did was hotly disputed. "This doesn't mean," track journalist Kenny Moore wrote in the aftermath, "that a leader can swerve in with impunity, but that in the give and take of pack running, athletes learn to make allowances." The US media sided with Decker, while the British press supported Budd.
BBC ON THIS DAY | 11 | 1984: Zola Budd in race trip controversy

 

Tommy Smith is from my little hometown high school of Lemoore and grew up in a very little town of Stratford. I graduated with his brother and and a sister in '57 and played city league basketball with another brother. His family were good people and were well thought of. I was pissed when they sent him home--he would have won more gold for sure.