Do You Remember These Famous Olympic Moments?

At Mexico City’s 1968 Summer Olympics, American Bob Beamon won gold with a long jump of 29.2 feet, destroying the previous world record by 21.65 inches. The single jump made Beamon the first jumper to surpass 29 feet, and his record stood for 23 years until it was broken by U.S. athlete Mike Powell in 1991.

Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila wasn’t originally supposed to compete in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics. However, when fellow runner Wami Biratu was injured in a football game, Bikila was called up. He tried on several pairs of shoes after arriving at the Olympics, but none fit — so he ran the race barefoot. Not only did Bikila win gold, but his sprint at the end led to a world record.

It’s easy to mix up Michael Phelps’ haul of gold medals — he won a world-record 23 golds and 28 medals in total. However, it was at his second Games — the 2008 Beijing Olympics — where he cemented his legacy. The swimmer won the gold medal in each of his eight events, and to top it off, each win was also a world or Olympic record.

Aleksandr Karelin, nicknamed “the Russian Bear,” is arguably the greatest wrestler in history. Leading up to Sydney’s 2000 Summer Olympic Games, Karelin had not lost an international match in 13 years. Karelin was the first three-time Olympic champ in the event and was trying to become the first four-time winner. Then, Rulon Gardner — a dairy farmer from Wyoming — shocked the world when he beat Karelin in the final.

Reebok spent $30 million on an ad campaign that put two American decathletes — Dan O’Brien and Dave Johnson — front and center in the buildup to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. However, the monthslong “Dan & Dave” campaign had one problem: Only Johnson qualified for the Olympics. O’Brien shockingly crashed out in the U.S. trials, while Johnson ended up winning a bronze medal.

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are one of ice dancing’s most iconic couples. The pair won gold and received perfect scores in artistic impression across the board at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984. The song that accompanied their iconic routine was Ravel’s “Bolero.” The British duo performed last, and the romantic final routine fittingly took place on Valentine’s Day.

Michael Johnson was one of the stars of the 1996 Olympics, which took place in Atlanta. Johnson was the favorite in the 200-meter race, and he embraced the role by boldly wearing shining gold shoes for the final. Not only did he win gold, but he also set a world record, which Usain Bolt broke in 2008.

During his career, athlete Carl Lewis won nine Olympic gold medals. While he competed in several other events, including the 100-meter race, Lewis most notably won the long jump at four consecutive Summer Games: 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996. As of 2023, Lewis still holds the indoor world record for the long jump at 28.84 feet.

At the 2006 and 2010 Olympics, speed skater Shani Davis won gold and silver in the 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter events, respectively. When he won gold at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, he became the first Black person to win individual gold at the Winter Olympics. Vonetta Flowers was the first Black athlete to win team gold when she won the two-woman bobsled event in 2002.

At the age of just 15 years old, Sonja Henie took the ice in the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and skated away with the gold medal, becoming the youngest woman ever to do so. It took 70 years for that record to be broken by Tara Lipinski, and in the meantime Henie went on to win two more gold medals and 10 world championships.

The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta were a highly anticipated event — and so were the opening ceremonies. The identity of the final torch bearer was kept secret until the very last minute when Olympic gold medalist and boxing legend Muhammad Ali appeared, collecting the torch from swimming champion Janet Evans. It is still considered one of the most iconic torch lightings in history.

Shaun White won Olympic gold in the half-pipe for the United States in 2006, 2010, and 2018. In 2006, White had long red hair that spun from underneath his helmet, which led to his nickname, “the Flying Tomato.” In 2012, White cut off his iconic long hair and donated it to Locks of Love.

In what has become one of the great defining moments of sportsmanship, Jim Redmond pushed past security at the 1992 Games in Barcelona in order to help his son — who had been a favorite in the 400-meter race before tearing his hamstring during the semi-finals — cross the finish line.

When Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze medals in 1968, racial tension had spiked toward a crescendo in the United States. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, two major leaders in the civil rights movement, had been assassinated earlier that year. Though Smith and Carlos were punished for the display at the time, their gesture is now an icon of athletic protest.

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci became the first person to earn a 10 in the sport, with a flawless routine on the uneven bars. At that same Olympics, Comăneci scored six more perfect 10s and won three gold medals. A change to the scoring system in 2006 added an “A” score for difficulty, and a “B” score for artistic impression, and marked the end of the “perfect 10.”

Jesse Owens won four gold medals and set records for both the 200-meter and 100-meter dashes at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Owens’ remarkable success flew in the face of the Nazi Party’s racist theories of white superiority. Despite facing racial slurs and discrimination at the Games in Berlin, Owens emerged with a triumphant victory.

The 1992 Games featured the first U.S. Olympic team with active professional NBA players, resulting in a “Dream Team” headlined by NBA megastars like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird, and Patrick Ewing. So it's not surprising that they annihilated the competition, winning with a 44-point lead on average.

At the 1988 Calgary Olympics, the bobsled event saw Switzerland win gold, East Germany take home silver, and the USSR earn bronze. But none of the teams equaled the cultural impact of the last-place team from Jamaica — the first-ever bobsled team from the Caribbean country. Their story inspired the 1993 Disney film “Cool Runnings,” starring John Candy, Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, and Malik Yoba.

Even with home crowd advantage, expectations were low for the seventh-seeded U.S. hockey team, which consisted of college players and semi-professionals. The victory over the USSR was even sweeter for America since the game took place during the height of Cold War tensions. And that was just the semi-finals; the U.S. beat Finland for the gold two days later.

On her first attempt at the vault jump, 18-year-old gymnast Kerri Strug landed awkwardly and badly sprained her ankle. With Team USA holding a slight lead over Russia, Strug had to perform one more vault in order to secure a gold medal for her team. Visibly limping, she nailed a back handspring before crumpling over in pain. Her gutsy effort won the United States its first gold in the team event.