Great moments in Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships history

[SJ]

Some of my favourite videos:









The birth of a legend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ9w3fsBWwY

 

[ioppolo]

 

[RequiemBlade]

Derek Redmond at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was one of the favourites in the 200m and he did his hammy just after halfway. He got up and tried to finish the race and his dad came running onto the track to help him. Everyone in the crowd stood up to applaud. One of the best moments in sporting history

 

[Donstuie]

And not for the sporting side of things, but still important

 

[The Falcon Strike]

A few that spring to mind - mainly from the olympics

Debbie Flintoff-King in the 400m hurdles - probably my favourite gold of all time.

Aussie women's water polo gold

Jorg Hoffman and Kieren Perkins at the WC in Perth in '91 in the 1500m

Gebrselassie at the Sydney Olympics

Gillian Rolton riding with a busted shoulder

Kieren Perkins at Atlanta winning from Lane 8

Mens 4 x 100m gold at Sydney

 

[roostersgal4eva]

Moses Kipsiro effort in winning the 5000m and 10000m against a full strengh Kenyan juggernaut

Fabian Cancellara winning gold in the Bejing TT and then backs up with a medal in the road race - his race in the road race was incredible

Matthew Mitcham last dive in Bejing - perfect 10's

If we are talking world championships then Cadel Even's win in the Cycling World Championships was the best win in Australian Cycling History

 

[roostersgal4eva]

if we are going winter olympics....

 

[Kim Hagdorn]

 

[Phone]

stop with the embed videos plz. just link us. k thx.

 

[Alpha1]

India winning gold last night in the 4x400 womens relay, the best crowd atmospehere in the world.

 

[Phone]

the hockey was a mile better

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

 

[SJ]

I was in Scotland last year when Bolt set that world record, watched it live on television. One of the most amazing things I've seen.

 

[Donstuie]

if we are going winter olympics....

Unforgiveable to forget this

 

[0497]

1972 USSR vs USA basketball final

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

1991 - 3rd IAAF World Championships in Tokyo.

King Carl involved in 2 great events.

Mike Powell breaks Bob Beamon's 23 year world record long jump. 19 years on Powell's record stands however 3 non-legal jumps have been longer

        1      8.99A      +4.4    Mike Powell                        USA    10.11.63    1      Sestriere                    21.07.1992
        2      8.96A@    +1.2    Iván Pedroso                      CUB    17.12.72    1      Sestriere                    29.07.1995
        3      8.95A      +3.9    Mike Powell                        USA    10.11.63    1      Sestriere                    31.07.1994
 
@=wind gauge was obstructed

The long jump battle between Lewis and Mike Powell. Lewis put together 4 great jumps - the best ever series of 4 in a row, including breaking Bob Beamon's WR of 8.90m with a 8.91m, but with a tail wind of +3.0m it wasn't an official world record. But Powell fnally got him - Lewis was undefeated for 10 years - and broke Beamon's 23 year record from Mexico City which was performed at altitude.

Lewis got his revenge next year in Barcelona beating Powell by 3cm for gold. And he won a fourth long jump gold in Atlanta.

There is a shorter 3 minute video but I can't find it. Ignore the first 90 seconds of this one.

Rank Athlete Attempts 1--- 2--- 3--- 4---- 5--- 6--- Distance Note

1 ! Mike Powell (USA) 7.85 8.54 8.29 .X...... 8.95 —... 8.95 m WR
2 ! Carl Lewis (USA)-. 8.68 X.... 8.83 8.91w 8.87 8.84 8.91 m PB (8.87)




The 100m. King Carl comes from nowhere to win. It's a pity there isn't Bruce's commentary of this race anywhere on You Tube as he made his famous "I don't think Carl can win" call. Listen to veteran BBC athletics commentator David Coleman's call and he doesn't even mention Lewis.

It's the best 100m final I have seen. Lewis comes from nowhere and breaks the world record. First time ever that 6 of the 8 runners went under 10 seconds. Only matched by 100m at Beijing when Bolt dragged the others thru and 6 also ran under 10 seconds. In 2009 world champs when Bolt also blitzed the world record 5 of the 8 ran under 10 seconds and 2 ran 10.00.

 

[Wallaby]

Russ,

Heve you heard any details about the 1991 track in Tokyo being 'illegal'? I seem to recall there was some controversy, but I can't find anything on the net.

1991 was the year Mondo was first introduced and there was a bit of a drop in times across the board - I think the Tokyo track may have had too much 'rebound' and so they drew up the limits after Tokyo. So maybe the track wasn't illegal at the time, but would be now.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Wallaby I don't remember any real controversy around Tokyo. Doesn't mean I didn't read or hear it, but I can't remember it.

I do remember there being some adjustments to Mondo track specifications a year or two after they were introduced it. You use the word rebound. I recall "spoungie" being used to describe the change in surface.

You sparked an interesting question so I checked Track and Field news forums. Looks like you are right, both about Tokyo and the phrase rebound.

Read the 11th post by track_expert on this thread titled "track surface"

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/di...80&p=565976&hilit=Tokyo+track+surface#p565976

This exchanges suggests there were issues.

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/di...39&p=520200&hilit=Tokyo+track+surface#p520200

and this comment by eldrick - about another WR issue - he was involved in a discussion in the second link.

http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/di...47&p=522209&hilit=Tokyo+track+surface#p522209

- kajsa's & olly/leby's wrs have been viewed suspiciously, but i've not seen any iaaf/meet reports about the surface ( & i damned well looked out ) - after '91 fiasco, iaaf has been completely backwards in coming forwards in dispelling rumours of illegal tracks or parts of tracks/run-ups, etc

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

The first 5 in Olympics that come straight to mind are :

Debbie Flintoff King winning the 400m hurdles, I was in the bar at Perth airport waiting for a flight back to Melbourne.

Carl Lewis breaking Mike Powell's heart in the sandpit at Atlanta. I was in the navy and we were out at sea returning to Cairns after a 6 week deployment, we were just in range to pick it up on the tv.

Usain Bolt's 100m in Bejing, it was astonishing. I was at work and actually yelled out in a crowded room, people wondered what was going on.

Teofilo Stevenson winning his 3rd straight gold at Moscow. Was an ordinary fight iirc against a stocky Russian but it was the first time I'd watched someone win a 3rd straight gold.

Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10s at Montreal. They were the first Olympics that I can clearly remember.

As has already been mentioned, special mention to the '91 World Championships in Tokyo. Lewis and Powell again. Lewis in the 100m and longjump and Powell in the longjump.

 

[SJ]

Before my time, but Jon Sieben's swim in the 200 fly in 1984 used to be on YouTube but isn't anymore.
Was a massive upset win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Sieben

Sieben and Lawrence continued their preparation for Los Angeles, but were given little chance. Sieben was known to his friends as The Shrimp, as he stood just 173 cm, in contrast to the dominant swimmer of the time, West Germany's Michael Groß, the world record holder, known as The albatross with his 200 cm frame and 225 cm wingspan. He also faced the 100 m butterfly world record holder, the United States' Pablo Morales. Sieben swam in the wake of Groß and Morales in the first 150 m, before storming home in the last 50 m to claim the gold medal in a world record time of 1 m 57.04 s, more than four seconds faster than he had ever swum before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Sieben

 

[Gibbsy]

I would love a mod to correct the YouTube videos in this thread. SJ ? Do you have rights on this board? Caesar maybe?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Anyone who posted links just has to go and edit by putting the bit they had between the [youtubex]....[/youtubex] in between the following commands

[mediax=youtubex] and [/mediax]

Just remove the x in all commands. I had to put them in so that the command comes up otherwise a blank youtube video appears.

 

[raskolnikov]

Kerri Strug landing her last vault despite an injured ankle to win the team gold for the US.



Also in gymnastics the duel between Daniela Silivas of Romania and Elena Chouchonova of Russia in the overall competition in Seoul was absolutely mesmerising. I remember being just glued to the tv when they were competing.

 

[SJ]

I would love a mod to correct the YouTube videos in this thread. SJ ? Do you have rights on this board? Caesar maybe?

Done.

 

[Gibbsy]

Done.

Much appreciated mate, a workmanlike job. Do you know if there's any chance of some sort of bot being developed which auto changes every old Youtube tag to the new one? It would be a shame to lose some great threads because of the changeover.