Memorable Olympic athletes you liked?

[Archae]

One of my favorites was "Eddie The Eagle."
Remember him?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%22The_Eagle%22_Edwards

[bluedigger]

1. Alberto Juantorena

"Alberto Juantorena Danger (born 3 December 1950) is a Cuban former track athlete, famed for his 9 foot stride length. At the 1976 Summer Olympics, he became the first and so far only athlete to win both the 400 and 800 m Olympic titles." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Juantorena

I was a half miler in HS in the 70's.

[rocktivity]

2. For me, the 1984 Summer Olympics set a record for the most weird names on the US team

Last edited Fri Nov 21, 2014, 12:09 PM - Edit history (1)

Sunder Nix (Track & Field)
Nancy Hogshead (Swimming)
Karch Kiraly (Volleyball)
Rich Duwelius (Volleyball)
Rowdy Gaines (Swimming)
Roger Kingdom (Track & Field)
Pernell Whitaker (Boxing)
Meldrick Taylor (Boxing)
Chandra Cheeseborough (Track & Field)
...and a swimmer named Jeff Float!

And speaking of swimmers:

rocktivity

[RandySF]

3. Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Track/field)

Edwin Moses (track/field), Midori Ito (skating), Felix Savon (boxing) and Carl Lewis (track)

[treestar]

4. Olga and Nadia

We were positively affixed to the TV

Nowadays since they are not American, the networks would simply not show the competitions.

[MichaelMcGuire]

5. Daley Thompson

I remember the guy looking across the street at me, then I was playing this. Finger bashing the keyboard, come face and all.

[LynneSin]

6. I had such a crush on Greg Louganis

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Remember that dive? And he still won the Gold Medal!

[HERVEPA]

7. Wilma Rudolph, Billy Mills, Kipchoge Keino

[pinboy3niner]

8. Our HS math teacher scored in '64

http://www.angelfire.com/co4/monroepics/TeacherMikeLarabee.html

[HappyMe]

9. Peggy Fleming, Nadia, Bruce Jenner,

Greg Luganis, Mark Spitz, Nancy Kerrigan

[hifiguy]

10. Sugar Ray Leonard, Katarina Witt,

Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan. And of course Peggy Fleming, who was one of my first crushes.

[Tom Ripley]

14. I also had the Peggy Fleming crush

[ohiosmith]

11. Ludmilla Tourischeva.

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

[TheMightyFavog]

12. Pocket Hercules

one of the great weightlifters, who was only about 4'10"...

[Tom Ripley]

13. John Carlos (he's also a really nice guy)

[Doc_Technical]

15. Franz Klammer

[bigwillq]

16. Bonnie Blair

Nancy Kerrigan


Quite a few more that I am not remembering at this time. I will edit and add when I remember.

[Art_from_Ark]

17. Mark Spitz at Munich 1972

Everyone on the 1980 US hockey team.

Peggy Fleming and Jean-Claude Killy at the '68 winter games at Grenoble.

Midori vs. Kristi at Nagano 1998

Bruce Jenner at Montreal 1976

And that American guy who beat all of those snooty European ski jumpers in the 1984 Winter Olympics.

[onestepforward]

18. Alberto Tomba aka "La Bomba"

From Wiki:

"a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Italy. He was the dominant technical skier (slalom and giant slalom) in the late 1980s and 1990s. Tomba won three Olympic gold medals, two World Championships, and nine World Cup season titles; four in slalom, four in giant slalom, and one overall title."

I remember him being quite the extravagant playboy back in the day, LOL!

[Art_from_Ark]

19. While his Olympic accomplishments were before my time, Jesse Owens

taught Hitler's "master race" a thing or two about athletics

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