With Olympics only 30 days away, whats your fave memory of Olympics?

[dougal55]

Hi!

With Athens 2004 Olympic Games now just 30 days away, I thought it would be cool to list some of my all time favourite memories, in no particular order. Ive loved watching the Olympics on TV ever since I saw David Wilkie from Great Britain win his gold in 1976. I think it was a crying shame that coverage for Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake City 2002 were so shamelessly one sided to the Americans but apart from that, here are some memories and perhaps you have some to list here....

1. Daley Thompson - Twice Olympic Decathlon Champion. Man, I have fond memories of watching him on TV compete against the best at LA Games in 1984. It was very close contest after 7 events but eventually walked away with the gold with ease after dominating pole vault and 400m and, after eventual re-calculation, he equalled the world record at the time! Amazing athlete and I remember one photo which showed him standing at the end of 1500 metres surrounded by fallen guys at his feet which spoke volumes of his superiority and excellence as a decathlete.

2. Carl Lewis - Well, what can I say? Hes pretty amazing throughout his career especially equalling Jesse Owens feat of 4 gold medals at LA Games in 1984.

3. Derek Redmond, Great Britain - I know what you are thinking... you havent heard of his name but I have to tell you that he is one of the most courageous athletes I have ever seen. What did he do you ask? Well, for a start, he didnt win a medal but rather what he did one summer's day in Barcelona in 1992 (after quite a few operations on his injuries through the frustrating years) competing for a place in Men's 400m Final. Prior to the day, he did very very well leading up to the semi final so he was all set to qualify if he wins the heat or go second, something like that. So, when the gun went off, he ran great for a bit. Then suddenly, at 150 metres, he tore his hamstring and fell. At the sight of stretcher bearers coming over very quickly, he stood up and waved them away. He then did the most incredible thing, he limped down the lane all the way round the bend before his own father came down to help him. At about 10 metres before the finish, his father let him go and finish the race to a standing ovation of 65000 people inside the Olympic Stadium! Amazing, just amazing!

4. Steve Redgrave - Winning his 5th Gold Medal in a row at Sydney was brilliant when you consider that he was diagnosed with diabetes the year before which I thought would have reduced his chances but man, he did it again at the age of 38! Unbelievable!

5. Eric - God, I cant remember his second name but hes the guy who competed at Sydney in 2000. I think he came from Equatorial Guinea so he was given no chance but what he actually did then was the kind of story I would tell again and again. In one heat, he was competing against two other very low ranked swimmers but inexplicably those two swimmers were disqualified! So Eric was on his own. At the very start, he dived into the water and as soon as he came up to the surface, he swam rather too enthusiastically than what we were used to seeing and so he swam ever so agonisingly slow but, as he turned round for the last 50 metres, the 20000 strong Australian crowd all stood up and yelled at the poor swimmer to keep going. Man, he almost sank at one time but happily he managed to finish at well over a minute behind the fastest swimmer at the Games! For a while, he became a celebrity and was asked everywhere he went for an autograph! I guess he expounded the Jean De Coubertin thing about that its not the matter of winning but all about competing to the best of your ability though a wee bit too slow for any championships at all but hey he won the heat! LOL!

cheers mate

dougal

 

[Angela Harlem]

Fatso the Fatarsed Wombat doing a high dive.



Eric the Eel we called him. He became a hero. He'd apparently never dipped even a toe in an Olympic sized pool before that.

 

[bono_man2002]

Fatso the Fatarsed Wombat doing a high dive.

you beat me to it.
i was gonna say the dream with Roy & HG.
Cant wait for it this year, gonna record it all on the PC and make a dvd out of it....at this stage anyway....prehaps you would like a copy?
(my plans can change drasticly though, and i'll never end up making it )

 

[vivaSA]

I was too young to remember much of the Olympic Games when they were held in my town, Sarajevo, in 1984, but this year the 20th anniversary was marked with special program about the most significant events from these games with Katarina Witt and some other winners attending.
It sure is a unique feeling to have Olympic games held in your town. I also remember the mascot of these Olympic games, we had to draw it in our Arts class at school.
here it is

 

[DaveC]

My first Olympic moment that I can remember was when the 1992 Albertville Olympics were on. I went to McDonald's and got a plastic Albertville cup with my food. I had no idea what the big deal was. Next thing I remember are the 1994 Winter Olympics, and I only saw one thing involving them. I remember the whole school packed into the library and sat in front of a small grainy TV and watched a bad tape of the closing ceremonies at Lillehammer. I remember being incredibly bored.

The first Olympics I can remember watching consistently were the 1996 Olympics. A few memories stand out.

- I was visiting at my grandparents' house in New Brunswick. I remember everyone gathered around the television on the evening of July 27. Donovan Bailey, the Canadian, was slated to run in the 100m Finals. Everyone was excited. Linford Christie false starts twice. The tension builds. The gun goes and my grandmother jumps to her feet and starts yelling "GO! GO DAMMIT GO!!" (first time I ever heard my grandmother swear). Donovan Bailey crosses the finish line first, winning Gold and setting a new World Record. My grandmother goes apeshit for the rest of the evening.

- It was early in the morning of July 28th, about 7:30 AM. I slept on the couch in the TV room, my mom in the room next door. I hear footsteps running through the house, and the next thing I hear is my grandmother's voice in the room next door: "Elaine, wake up. There's been a bomb at the Olympics..." trailing off into a sad tone. My grandmother was in Munich in 1972 (as part of a band who made the trip there) and knows Olympic terrorism first-hand. The joyfulness of the previous night was shattered into tension and anxiousness as news slowly filtered in. The TV was permanently on CNN for the rest of the day. I remember my grandmother so badly shaken with the memories of Munich that she broke down into sobs in front of the television on her knees. I will never forget that.

The 1998 Olympics:
- The very first year that NHL players were allowed to compete in the Olympics. I remember being excited at Canada's chances, everyone was pumped up for the Olympics. Canada was the favorite to finally win after 46 years. They cruised through the Round Robin, won the quarterfinals, and then played the Czechs in the Semis. We all thought Canada was going to the finals. The game started. A scoreless first two periods. We thought that Canada was bound to score sooner or later and win. But then the Czechs scored. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Canada was supposed to simply solve Hasek and that would be it. The tension mounted and we were all chewing nails in anticipation and desperation. 5 minutes left. 3 minutes left. 2 minutes left. We thought it was hopeless. Then, with 1:03 left, Trevor Linden scored for Canada! We were so excited! "We're back in it now," we thought. "Those Czech bastards just cost themselves the Gold!" We figured now it was just a matter of getting a goal in overtime. Overtime, an anxious moment, came and went. A shootout was imminent. This is not good. Sure, we've got Patrick Roy...but they've got Dominik Hasek. This would be tense. Robert Reichel scores. Hasek keeps stopping shot after shot. Now the fifth and final shot for Canada. Brendan Shanahan (not the greatest shootout choice, let me tell you) goes in, a deke to the right. Hasek goes down, Shanahan hesitates...and it's too late. By the time he shoots it goes straight into Hasek's left pad. That sound you heard then was the sound of a nation mourning. I didn't even watch the bronze medal game vs. Finland. Nobody cared about bronze. We wanted Gold.

The 2000 Olympics:
- I don't remember much about the Sydney Olympics cause they were all held between 10 PM and about 9 AM every day. The only thing I remember is watching women's beach volleyball one night at 3 AM when I couldn't sleep.

The 2002 Olympics:
- I didn't watch the performance, but I remember vividly the shit kicked up by everyone the day after Sale and Pelletier were robbed of their Gold medal. That was the big story.

- As with the 1998 Olympics, what I remember most was the hockey:

Game 1 - Canada vs. Sweden. We thought Canada was going to kick Sweden's collective ass every way but out. Canada scores to take the lead in the first and we all got giddy. Then in the second...a complete breakdown. Sweden scores 4 times. Canada managed to muster another but the nation nearly shat itself with questions about the team, second-guessing everything from whether Pat Quinn should have started Joseph or Belfour to whether Mario Lemieux ate a proper pre-game meal. Sweden 5-2.

Game 2: Canada vs Germany. The country breathes a collective (but tentative) sigh of relief after Canada takes its second game 3-2 against a relatively weak German team.

Game 3: Canada vs Czech Republic. I remember that on this day I was up at the ski hill doing some snowboarding. I paid close to 60 bucks for a day's worth and ended up sitting for the last 3 hours in the lodge watching the game. This was a rematch of the 1998 semifinal and everyone from the Prime Minister to Bubba's turd knew what this game meant to Canadians. It was a close game until the third. The Czechs took a late 3rd period lead, going up 3-2. It looked grim for Canada's hopes. Then Joe Nieuwendyk's 11th hour goal brought back Canadian spirits, giving a 3-3 tie in the final game and setting up a quarter-final matchup with the Finns.

Game 4 - The Quarterfinals - Canada vs. Finland. I remember I had an exam the next day and it was the late game. I didn't care. I stayed up and listened to the game on CBC radio. I remember waking up my parents with my yell when Canada scored to take the lead and the victory. Then a great stroke of luck befell us. Belarus beat Sweden off a stupid, stupid play by Tommy Salo. We had to play Belarus in the Semifinals. Of course, judging by the fact that they beat Sweden and remembering the 1998 semis, we knew not to take them lightly and that we needed to go at them just as hard as we would against anyone else. Canada was beginning to get fired up and the bandwagon was taking on more and more people every day.

Game 5 - Semifinals - Canada vs. Belarus. This one started with about 2 or 3 hours left to go before school ended so all the classes stopped once the game started and the principal put the game on the PA system. Everyone in the school just listened. I was in keyboarding class at the time. Everybody was excited and there were folks joking around about how badly Belarus was going to get its ass kicked. But Belarus scored first. Some of the people in the class just assumed that when the announcer yelled "he scores!" that it was Canada and jumped up and started whooping. But I nearly shat myself, cause I knew it was Belarus. We couldn't lose like this. No way. Canada ended up evening it up however and won by a score of 7-1. Canada was headed to the Finals.

Game 6 - Finals - Canada vs. USA. Canada was nearly crapping its pants. You could not go anywhere on Sunday without seeing a Canada flag. People wore Canada jerseys outdoors over their winter jackets. In church that morning, the pastor even snuck a mention into his prayer ("and o, Almighty God, bless the Canadian hockey team's effort this afternoon as they play for the Gold medal at the Olympic Games. Give them strength and keep them safe to make a nation proud."). The fever was intense. I got my pop and my chips and sat down at 3:30 PM to watch the pregame show. The Americans scored first though, and I don't think Canada breathed a breath until Paul Kariya scored to tie it up on the most beautiful goal I think I've ever seen in a hockey game. Then Jarome Iginla scored only 4 minutes later to give the Canadians a 2-1 lead at the end of the first. The atmosphere everywhere was electric. Nobody was on the streets, they were all inside watching the game. The second period began and the Americans scored midway through after killing a 5-on-3. Tie game again, 2-2. But then Sakic became a country's hero by scoring right at the end of the second to put Canada up 3-2. I had to leave then because I had my own game to play at 7 PM. I remember listening to the third period in my car in the parking lot of Taco Bell while eating a burrito. Canada scored twice in the third. I remember somebody set off fireworks a block to the north of me and all of a sudden there was a cacophony of car horns from everywhere and Canada flags and noise. I got to the arena and I felt like I was 6 years old again. I wanted to be just like Team Canada.

I don't remember much else about the 2002 Olympics cause the hockey just overshadows anything else that happened.

I can't wait for Athens!

 

[Bbug]

Oh, winter olympics memories! Okay, this is kind of a long story, and it's very self-centered. A little over two years ago, I had to go to a concert for a class I was taking. I was in a bad mood to begin with because my grandmother was dying at the time. That night it was snowing so hard that there were scary noises coming from the roof and IIRC one of the performers couldn't make it because the weather was so bad. (and this is Montreal, where snow is not such a big deal) The concert was depressing as anything, and ended with a performance of (I kid you not) Chopin's Funeral March. As I was trudging home, practically on the verge of tears, a creepy dude approached me and said something and when I didn't respond, he broke out the crude hand signals. So I finally get back to my dorm, just in time to see the Canadian women win the gold. The goaltender went to school here, and everyone in the lounge was so energetic and happy that in spite of being an American and having had a frack of a bad night, it made me happy too. I seriously doubt any other sports moment will ever have such a positive impact on my emotional state.

edited to remove redundant elements. Is that grammatically correct? oh who cares.

 

[Angela Harlem]

you beat me to it.
i was gonna say the dream with Roy & HG.
Cant wait for it this year, gonna record it all on the PC and make a dvd out of it....at this stage anyway....prehaps you would like a copy?
(my plans can change drasticly though, and i'll never end up making it )

If you do copy it, could you give me a holler? I love what they do with it. Just fantastic. Friends of mine had the 2000 games on a double dvd which we borrowed but they've split up now so we still have it. I've been meaning to watch it before I give it back to whichever wants it. The stuff they say about the gymnastics has to be some of the funniest stuff on sports tv.

 

[bono_man2002]

sure.
i'll let you know what sorta quality i get then get back to you.
these will be full episodes though not just higlights .
I have that DVD Also....i've watched it countless times...funny stuff..

"hello boys!"

 

[DiGi]

3. Derek Redmond, Great Britain - I know what you are thinking... you havent heard of his name but I have to tell you that he is one of the most courageous athletes I have ever seen. What did he do you ask? Well, for a start, he didnt win a medal but rather what he did one summer's day in Barcelona in 1992 (after quite a few operations on his injuries through the frustrating years) competing for a place in Men's 400m Final. Prior to the day, he did very very well leading up to the semi final so he was all set to qualify if he wins the heat or go second, something like that. So, when the gun went off, he ran great for a bit. Then suddenly, at 150 metres, he tore his hamstring and fell. At the sight of stretcher bearers coming over very quickly, he stood up and waved them away. He then did the most incredible thing, he limped down the lane all the way round the bend before his own father came down to help him. At about 10 metres before the finish, his father let him go and finish the race to a standing ovation of 65000 people inside the Olympic Stadium! Amazing, just amazing!

That was amazing. To this day I recall that moment very vividly. I can even tell you that Derek's dad was wearing a Nike Huarache t-shirt that said "Have you hugged your feet today?"

If I had been alive to see Billy Mills win the 1964 10,000 meters in Tokyo I am pretty sure that would be it. I have seen the footage and it always blows me away. Its really hard to pick one moment though, because every four years there is something new and terrific that happens. I can't wait till August.

I have to ponder this question longer. its a good one.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

1. the greatest team ever assembled

2. kurt angle, with a broken neck that he doesn't even know about yet, defeats a previously undefeated iranian to win the gold medal

3, vince carter jumps over a 7-footer... to this day the most amazing dunk i've ever seen.

 

[kellyahern]

Paul Wylie winning the Silver Medal in figure skating at Albertville in 1992

 

[OzAurora]

The 2000 Olympics:
- I don't remember much about the Sydney Olympics cause they were all held between 10 PM and about 9 AM every day. The only thing I remember is watching women's beach volleyball one night at 3 AM when I couldn't sleep.

Wellcome to our world- this is how I remember most other Olympics and stuff that happens in the northern hemisphere. The thing that I loved about the 2000 Olympics was Roy and HGs 'The Dream'- that was such a great show and I loved watching them interview their guests, who quite often just didn't get the Aussie humour. I acutally worked for channel 7 four years ago when the olympics were on and it was so cool to go to work and watch all of the live feeds from each venue all day long- it was so much fun and I cant wait for the swimming at Athens- the second week dosnt really do much for me, but bring on the swimming in the open air pool

 

[Salome]

probably the dutch volleyball team winning the gold medal

 

[cass]

I didn't actually see this happen but I've heard it talked about and it's powerful.
2000 AD, the year East Timor gained independence. Such a tiny nation, but they had an Olympic team, I'm not sure how many members. A young woman was entered in the marathon, maybe she was their only entrant. She ran the entire the marathon, coming dead last. She entered the stadium to the cheers of the crowd. She fell to her knees and kissed the ground...and there she stayed. She didn't realise she had to run a lap of the stadium to complete the race. Either that or she was overcome by emotion.
The crowd encouraged her to stand up and she completed the lap to a standing ovation and the roar of the crowd.
That was last year...with such a long history, there have been many magic moments.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Derek Redmond at Barcelona '92. I was a young'in then but I saw the incident on TV recently and by God, was it compelling.

 

[Saracene]

I am so looking forward to Roy and HG, and hopefully Fatso the Wombat will make an appearance too,

I only ever really paid attention to the last Olympics, and the most memorable event from that one was probably the Aussies winning gold in 4 x 100 swimming race.

The most heartbreaking one has to be Jane Saville disqualified just a few moments away from winning gold in walking,

 

[Angela Harlem]

I wonder if Fatso will be allowed to return. During the Sydney games, they got in trouble as we skips all went nuts over him and there was a problem with the tourists thinking he was an official mascot and so SOCOG said "Nuh dont think so boys, retire him".
Party Poopers

 

[bedouin fire]

As portuguese, it can only be Carlos Lopes winning the marathon in LA '84

 

[pepokiss]

The greatest moment in the olympics I didn't see it live...

It was the Olympic Torch ignition at Barcelona 92... that dude throwing the flaming arrow to the torch... just amazing

*500 post... *

 

[Justified]

My greatest memory would be of course my home city hosting the Olympics in 1996.

One memory that sticks out would be when the Olympic torch ran through my college town in the summer. My boyfriend at the time and I along with several of our friends went to watch the torch come by. It was a lot of fun and funny as hell to see one of our good friend's get caught up in the moment and start running along side the head coach of our football team who was picked to run with the torch. then attacking the free watermelon bin afterwards was funny as hell too.

oh the memories.

Despite the lame opening cermonies that Atlanta provided, it was a great time leading up to the Olympics and when the games finally came here.