6 greatest Olympic moments of all time

Every four years the world comes together to compete in some of the toughest sporting events ever for the summer Olympics. The modern summer Olympics first took place in 1896 in Athens to pay homage to the ancient Olympics the tournament is based on.

Since it’s inception there have been thousands of amazing sporting feats accomplished by athletes, we’ve pulled together what we think are the six greatest moments of summer Olympic history.

The 6 greatest moments in summer Olympic history

Usain Bolt – The Smiling Assassin

When: 2016
Where: Rio, Brazil

This would have to be one of the most memorable Olympic moments of all time. At the 2016 Rio Olympics Usain Bolt ran the 100m semi-final as if he was the “big kid on the playground” outrunning the smaller kids just for the fun of it, it simply wasn’t fair.

Despite the immense pressure and expectation on his shoulders, Bolt showed what an immense athlete he was as he looked over his left shoulder at Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse, who appeared considerably less relaxed than he was. Bolt ran a 9.86-second race that day, qualifying for the 100m Men’s Final, which he went on to win and therefore the gold medal.

The photograph, captured by Australia’s Cameron Spencer, shows Bolt smiling as he blew away his competition. It became the defining image of the 2016 Rio Olympic games.

Nadia Comăneci Becomes The First Gymnast Awarded a Perfect 10 at The Olympics

When: 1976
Where: Montreal, Canada

Nadia Comăneci made history at the 1976 Olympics when she became the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect 10. What makes this even more amazing is that she was 14 at the time, and only 1.5m tall.

It can’t be overstated just how difficult of a feat this is to achieve, everything must come together at the right time with no room for error. On that particular day, the Romanian Comăneci delivered a truly flawless performance and one that will be remembered for all time.

Amazingly, she also went on to win 6 more perfect 10’s at the Montreal Games.

“I would have been happy with 9.95 but now I think about it, it wouldn’t have been history,” Nadia Comăneci commented about her perfect 10.

Bob Beamon’s Great Leap Forward

When: 1968
Where: Mexico City, Mexico

This goes down as one of the greatest Olympic moments ever. Bob Beamon, an American long jumper, absolutely obliterated the previous long jump world record. No, seriously, he absolutely destroyed it.

Beamon almost didn’t make it to the final after overstepping in his first two qualifying jumps but eventually got through and when he took this historic jump in the final the optical measuring device had fallen off and an old-fashioned metal measuring tape had to be used to measure. During his mammoth leap, he jumped an incredible 8.9 meters, which was 60 centimetres further than the previous record. That’s just insane especially considering it had taken 33 years for the record to move even 22cm.

Amazingly, this is still the Olympic record today. This jump goes down as the greatest of all the records achieved in the Olympic games.

Interesting fact: After this performance, sports historians coined the term “Beamonesque” for any sporting triumph that was vastly superior to anything else that had been done before.

The Fosbury Flop

When: 1968
Where: Mexico City, Mexico

At the same Olympics Beamon took his great leap, Dick Fosbury made a legendary leap himself when he completely revolutionized the high jump. The American introduced an entirely new way of approaching the event and the high jump changed forever.

It’s said that Dick used his engineering know-how to conjure up a new technique that was more efficient and would yield far greater results than other methods. Rather than trying to straddle the bar running face on, he would run at full speed towards the bar and then jump backwards, using the arch of his back and the resulting centre of gravity to his advantage.

Low and behold, he won the event and took home Olympic Gold that year, only to never return to the games again.

Michael Phelps Wins 8 Gold Medals

When: 2008
Where: Beijing, China

In 2008, Michael Phelps cemented his place as one of the greatest athletes of all time when he came home from the Bejing games with eight gold medals draped around his neck, breaking Mark Spitz’s previous record of seven gold medals in one Olympics.

Phelp’s nine days of competition in Beijing consisted of the following: 17 races, eight finals, seven world records, and three miles of swimming, and eight gold medals.

Australia’s own Grant Hacket said of the feat, “you can’t put it in words what he has done here, his level of achievement is phenomenal and I don’t think it will ever be seen again.”

He’s officially the greatest Olympian of all time, with a record-breaking 23 gold medals (28 overall) in four Olympic games, to put this in perspective, the 2nd best athlete has (only) nine gold.

Unbelievable.

Jesse Owens Dominates The Berlin Olympics

When: 1936
Where: Berlin, Germany

Where do we begin with this one? First of all, let’s set the scene. It’s 1936 in Berlin, Germany where Adolf Hitler is the new Chancellor of Germany and the 1936 Summer and Winter Olympics are both set to be hosted by the German leader himself.

These were to be the first-ever Olympic games televised to people tuning in all around the world, making the games one of the biggest spectacles of the time. Of course, as you are already aware, a toxic anti-fascist Nazi regime was at the helm of the German nation, and this presented a perfect opportunity for Hitler to display his prized Aryan athletes who were supposed to dominate the competition with their “racial and genetic superiority.”

It was a sickening, yet dangerous attempt to use the games as a source of propaganda for his twisted notions. In fact, he forbade all German Jews from participating in the games, dashing his own country’s medal hopes in the process, as some of their greatest athletes were amongst them.

Then up-stepped Jesse Owens of the USA, who spoiled the führer’s plans as he went on to produce one of the greatest and most legendary Olympic performances of all time. At the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games, Jesse Owens won gold in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m and Long Jump, all in front of Adolf Hitler. Not only that, Owens set three world records in the games, totally nullifying Hitler’s notions of Aryan superiority.

To give this achievement more perspective Owens was an African American who in his own country was seen as a second class citizen. In Germany, despite the Nazi regime, Owens was able to stay in hotels with white athletes, eat at the same restaurants and didn’t have to enter through a different door. Compare this to when Owens returned to NY there was a parade to celebrate his accomplishments but at the end of the parade, he has to enter the Waldorf Astoria through a separate door and travel to a celebration to honour him via the freight elevator. He also wasn’t invited to the White House by then-President Franklin D Rosevelt, which was the tradition for successful Olympic athletes once they returned to the USA.

Interesting fact: Hitler allegedly snubbed the trophy ceremony and refused to offer medals to any of the athletes, just so he could avoid handing them out to the African American athletes.

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