The Olympics is here! Opening ceremony tomoz, Can't wait!
Lets have a bit of fun....
I have seen many but 3 that stand out for me are :
1 - Abebe Bikila - Winning the Marathon in Rome 1960. Here is what was shocking, he run it bare foot. ON COBBLE STONES of Rome :) another thing that is shocking, it was the first EVER gold medal for Africa and it inspired many Africans to take up distance running, esp Ethiopians who still hold him up as a hero.
2 - Almaz Ayana , winning the 10k in Record time. Going past world club athlets with ease. Almost lapping everyone. I love Kennenisa Bekele and Haile but i have never seen anyone dominate an Olympic even with such ease The determination, the belife to take it up so early, her running so so graceful. I would put that and her World Championship win in London as the best track running domination i have ever seen.
3 - Sure Bolt was fast but there was no one that could come close to the great Michael Johnson. He was in a class of his own. I remember Roger Black who finished 2nd to him, the brit saying, there was a Michael Johnson race, and there was a race for the rest. They always knew they could only dream of winning Silver with MJ about. Him running that 200 in them gold shoes in the USA and breaking record will stay in mind always.
by the way, i am Ethiopian, i am a bit biased and chose to Ethiopians at top :)
In person: I will limit this to track and field (I spent every day in 1996 at the Games), Michael Johnson, 400m and 200m double.
Greatest Olympic track performance I’ve watched live on TV has to be Bolt’s 9.69 WR with celebration in 2008. Granted, I don’t really remember any Olympic races prior to ‘04 and I’ve missed watching a lot of events live (like Rudisha 2012) being at work.
I’ll go with Rudisha’s 800 myself but I just watched at home and then wrote about it (was freelancing at the time).
Most memorable watch though was Centro’s gold. No idea my thought process at the time, but I went to Mohegan Sun solo to play blackjack that night knowing all of the tables had TVs. I’d pause my play for every final. So tipsy on several rum and cokes and having played for a couple hours I wasn’t thinking much of the race expecting a Kiprop romp of Makhloufi/Kwemoi. When it went out ridiculously slow and Centro was leading I was in disbelief. I started instinctively celebrating after he won pumping my fist and people figured it out after seeing an American had won (though probably not appreciating how wild that was). And I think they all thought I was financially invested in it as well. I’m wondering if this year I try to find my way back so that Hocker/Nuguse can win it.
Ben Johnson in Seoul '88. Unbelievable display of sprinting power to take the gold and the wr. Then a couple of days later he was busted. In sports things are often not quite what they seem. Especially track.
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