Olympic Memories

Anyone got any favourite memories from the games?

I watched a programme on ESPN Classic (A FINE Station) about the dream team in 92, that brought some memories back.

Has to be Sir Steve in 2000 though for me. I rmemeber Alan Green saying "Whatever you're doing, just stop it, and stand up and appluad this man" or something like that.

the race of the century well kind of remember it. it was in the states so not on until about 3 in the morning i went out drinking and came home at 2 a.m. to watch it. had to stay awake throughout the horse dressage. how boring,could have been footy or boxing something to keep my eyes active.by horses walking then slowly nodding!!! nothing else on because tv finished early in them days. still managed to keep awake until they got in the blocks. then fucking fell asleep !! i was about 20 seconds from witnessing the 'race of the century'. woke up at 4 a.m.

Showjumping should just be banned.

I remeber staying up to watch the 100m final in 96, (which had a great line up) and being very sad when Christie was DQ'd.

1980 Alan Wells winning the 100m in Moscow, Coe and Ovett's battle for the 800 and 1500m's. 1984 Carl Lewis winning 4 golds in LA. 1988 Ben Johnson and Flo Jo. 1996 Ali lighting the Olympic flame, Michael Johnson winning 200 and 400m.

I remember the bombing in 96. And Samarach NOT saying the games was the best ever.

"If anyone sees me near a boat again, they have my permission to shoot me"

tommie smith - 68' mecicco city -black panthers n all that stuff, bit like that new statue thing in Trafford

Andrew Sayer wrote: tommie smith - 68' mecicco city -black panthers n all that stuff, bit like that new statue thing in Trafford

Were you BORN then?

1996- Kerri Strug's perfect gymnastic landing on one leg.

[magenta]cozmonite61[/magenta] wrote: 1996- Kerri Strug's perfect gymnastic landing on one leg.

Fuck no. Well, i suppose it is a memory.

But fuck did the Yanks overplay that one as if she'd just cured Cancer. She was all over the telly for ages and even gto a segment on Sports Personality of the Year.

Personally I think that the olympics suck big style. For a lot of sports they dont really matter - football, rugby, cricket, cycling, darts, American football, baseball, where their own cups, leagues, competitions etc are far better than what gets dished up at the olympics.

For me personal Moscow Olympics 1980. The only olympics, I saw live in the stadium. Basketball with Dino Meneghin (Italia), Athletics with Coe, Ovett and Thompson, East German rowing success. Germany was not there. But my journey was already booked.

Munich 72 were the first games I was aware of as a kid, so the shock of what happened was my introduction to the political beliefs of radical Arabs. Recently deceased sports broadcaster Jim McKay did a great job trying to make sense of what happened to a shocked nation, and his words of "they're gone..........they're all gone" after the results of the failed airport rescue attempt became known.

Local hero Steve Prefontaine lost in the 5000M race that year at the age of 21 finishing fourth behind Lasse Viren, Mohammed Gammoudi and Ian Stewart, the hope was that with training he would be in prime position to win the gold at Montreal in 1976. Unfortunately, he passed away in a car accident in 1975, and in the last few years, Hollywood has seen fit to make a couple of movies about his life story.

Of course, beating the USSR in hockey in the winter of 1980 wasn't a bad thing either, a bunch of young college kids overcoming the Russian machine was a powerful 'underdog' story to this country at the time.

I guess the first specific memory that pops into my head is Michael Johnson's 200m run in Atlanta. I was working as a busboy in a restaurant (TGI Fridays) at the time, and I managed to stop and look up at the TV long enough to see that incredible run. I thought his time was an error. He smashed that record like I've never seen a records smashed before. I think it will stand for a while. I also remember those sweet gold shoes of his. :)

My other fond memory was the 1984 Olympics, where McDonalds had this promotion where you got game cards with each purchase, and each card had an olympic event, and if the US won a gold medal you won a burger, a silver was fries, and bronze was soft drinks. Then the soviets boycoted the olympics. Sweet! This teenage boy ate very well that summer.

I was in Iraq walking in Division headquarters (once Saddam's palace) I walked by a television when I saw coverage of the olympics. Normally I follow them, as I was a track runner myself, but under the circumstances I hadn't. There getting the silver in the marathon, was a guy I ran against in high school, Mebrahtom Keflezighi. Wasn't really ready for it, as it surprised the hell out of me... not that he was at the olympics (he was the fastest miler in the nation in hgh school), but that I actually knew someone getting a medal... was kinda cool moment, as I was yelling at the tele... a happy moment.

That is prtty cool. Did your mates believe you that you'd run against him?

I still run pretty fast (no where near college times I had), but at the time I could still run a respectable 16:15 3-mile... and that was with half-ass training three days a week. My men knew I ran fast, also my reputation of no BS, no one ever questioned it really.

Uncle Liam wrote:

Andrew Sayer wrote: tommie smith - 68' mecicco city -black panthers n all that stuff, bit like that new statue thing in Trafford

Were you BORN then?

na but always thought it shit t bring in politics into sport. Quite liked the idea that a black blowke won the Berlin 36' games like with all them nazis there

always prefer more gay shit like badmington or anything where theres a chance of injury or death.

remember all the races wi steve ovett,steve cram and seb coe when i were a young en,not forgettin zola budd either ;bow:

darran clarke wrote: Personally I think that the olympics suck big style. For a lot of sports they dont really matter - football, rugby, cricket, cycling, darts, American football, baseball, where their own cups, leagues, competitions etc are far better than what gets dished up at the olympics.

i know football is in this olympics, but apart from baseball (which has to stay in so cuba can beat america, world series my arse) & the cycling in which the olympics is a bg deal - several top ranking brits have not competed in the tdf to be in prime shape for the olympics, cav withstanding, the others aren´t in it are they?

rugby does need to come back once though, so the septics are no longer olympic champions, how on earth that happened i´ll never understand.

But rugby would be Sevens. Of course, I know having a full fifteen a side Rugby tournament inside two weeks would be impossible....

Saying that, Rugby and Cricket should in there. ON a global level, they're bigger than the majority of the sports in the Olympics.

Uncle Liam wrote: But rugby would be Sevens. Of course, I know having a full fifteen a side Rugby tournament inside two weeks would be impossible....

Saying that, Rugby and Cricket should in there. ON a global level, they're bigger than the majority of the sports in the Olympics.

Rugby and Cricket aren't important for Germany. They shouldn't be important for most countries in Europe.

The problem of the teamsports is, only 12 teams are in the tournament. Every continent and the host has one team. So only half of the tournament is good enough to win something.

Jeffari-al-Texani wrote:

I also have memories of watching that Mary Lou Retton pixie during the 84 Games in LA.

I met her at a UT football game once (she's married to former UT qb Shannon Kelley). Damn she's tiny! Homegirl can't be 5' tall.....

Tex wrote:

Jeffari-al-Texani wrote:

I also have memories of watching that Mary Lou Retton pixie during the 84 Games in LA.

I met her at a UT football game once (she's married to former UT qb Shannon Kelley). Damn she's tiny! Homegirl can't be 5' tall.....

I've met a bunch of Olympians, best memory that comes to mind is meeting Carl Lewis... rather racing against him...

The college I ran for holds the largest track meet on the West Coast (Mt. SAC Relays). Carl Lewis ran this every year, and a couple days after the relays, he came and visited the team. We talked him into racing against us, the coach said "GO!" and after I took about three steps, Lewis was already across the finish line... that guy is FAST!

To commerate the race, that night we bought cases of beer, put them at each corner of the track and the race was off. We sprinted each 100m, then had to chug a beer... running and drinking don't go too well, so there were people crawling, puking, ohhh it was a mess.... but good times

hibster wrote:

darran clarke wrote: Personally I think that the olympics suck big style. For a lot of sports they dont really matter - football, rugby, cricket, cycling, darts, American football, baseball, where their own cups, leagues, competitions etc are far better than what gets dished up at the olympics.

i know football is in this olympics, but apart from baseball (which has to stay in so cuba can beat america, world series my arse) & the cycling in which the olympics is a bg deal - several top ranking brits have not competed in the tdf to be in prime shape for the olympics, cav withstanding, the others aren´t in it are they?

rugby does need to come back once though, so the septics are no longer olympic champions, how on earth that happened i´ll never understand.

Which top ranking Brits are these that you speak of?

Apart from Football and Tennis, I cant think of any other sport in the games where it is not the most prestigious tournament.

Apart from maybe Baseball and Basketball, but even so, both of their major prizes are concentrated within North America.

COE and OVETT..........:D

I had a small part as an invited performer at the 1996 olympic closing ceremonies in Atlanta. What I remember most is the amazing spirit and enthusiasm of the various athletes I met on the field during the after party. It gave me a new perspective on the games being able to observe and hear about it first hand from the many athletes around the world who were a part of it. You can't convey that type of energy and spirit in a television broadcast.

Bentley wrote: I had a small part as an invited performer at the 1996 olympic closing ceremonies in Atlanta. What I remember most is the amazing spirit and enthusiasm of the various athletes I met on the field during the after party. It gave me a new perspective on the games being able to observe and hear about it first hand from the many athletes around the world who were a part of it. You can't convey that type of energy and spirit in a television broadcast.

Did you get to see any events? Tickets are really hard to come by... really would like to go to the track events (the mile to be specific)... jealous you were able to be there...

ROCKET MICK wrote: COE and OVETT..........:D

I know Brits seem to hate Coe quite a bit, but he seemed a very nice chap when I had lunch with him back in 94. He came down to promote the Carlsbad 5000 (the fastest 5000 course in the world as it is all downhill). He had a forum, by invite only (all the fastest runners in Southern Calif). Amazingly, when he finished talking everyone just left. I had some questions, so went up to ask him. We started talking, then because the conference was held in a restuarant, we ended up eating lunch and discussed things for over 2 hours! A dream come true for me, at least. He was very open, very friendly, and unbelievably approachable.

All the ones Shug mentions.

Particularly Daley Thompson's duel with the 6ft 7" behemoth German,Jurgen Hingsen,ín the 84 Los Angeles decathlon.

They had been swapping the world record points total between them,going into the games... Daley was shit at the 1500 and it being the last event,had to hang on and bust his lungs to take gold. Fantastic,pure sport..And they both had tashes.

EdelBrock wrote:

Bentley wrote: I had a small part as an invited performer at the 1996 olympic closing ceremonies in Atlanta. What I remember most is the amazing spirit and enthusiasm of the various athletes I met on the field during the after party. It gave me a new perspective on the games being able to observe and hear about it first hand from the many athletes around the world who were a part of it. You can't convey that type of energy and spirit in a television broadcast.

Did you get to see any events? Tickets are really hard to come by... really would like to go to the track events (the mile to be specific)... jealous you were able to be there...

I recall having to clear the field at one point for at least one event but for the most part I was under the stadium. Most of what I experienced was behind the scenes until the closing ceremonies and after party.