Olympic Greats

[Pego]

What do you consider the greatest post-war (no Nurmi's or Owens') Olympic performances. It could by a combination of Games, single Games, one or many events. Here are mine:
1. Zátopek in Helsinki (London on top of it)
2. Carl Lewis long jump 84-92 ( LA not a small feat either)
3. Al Oerter discus 84-92
4. Fanny Blankers-Koen in London
5. Lasse Viren's double double 72-76

[stevehj197]

Re: Olympic Greats

swlight amendment/corre4ction to your stats, Pego:

Oerter was 56-64
Lewis was 84-96

other than that your choices are pretty good. 5/10 doubles a la Viren have been several times but Viren did it TWICE ! But Kuts in '56 was pretty intimidating..ask Gordon Pirie.

[stevehj197]

Re: Olympic Greats

oops let me correct myself.... Oerter was 56-68.

[Pego]

Re: Olympic Greats

Obviously an error as I copied Lewis' years.

[Powell]

Re: Olympic Greats

You got Lewis's years wrong as well - it should be 84-96 (not 92).

To get back to the point: how about Irena Szewinska's winning Olympic medals in 5 events? Nobody else in modern T&F has done that. Somebody will probably bring up Nurmi, but there were a lot more events in those days... Having said that, Nurmi's winning both the 1500 and 5000 finals within one hour in 1924 should make the list as well.

[Pego]

Re: Olympic Greats

My apologies for errors in numbers.
Oerter 56-68
Lewis 84-96

Powell is right, that's why I proposed that we stay with post-war Games and ignore '36 amd before on this thread. And, yes, Irena Szewinska was awesome.

Re: Olympic Greats

To get back to the point:
>how about Irena Szewinska's winning Olympic
>medals in 5 events? Nobody else in modern T&F has
>done that.

Marion Jones?

Re: Olympic Greats

An injured David Moorcroft, the reigning 5,000 meter world record holder, battling to avoid the indignity of being lapped in the 1984 final.

Maybe some of you won't see this the way I do, but there are many examples of great courage throughout any given race. I am grateful Bud Greenspan made us aware of this one.

[Pego]

Re: Olympic Greats

If I recall correctly, this race, just like so many others, was among those ABC elected not to show us. Oh, well!

Re: Olympic Greats

I'd say Michael Johson's 200 in '96 (after the 400 gold) and Beamon's long jump in '68 would have to be mentioned, simply because they broke the existing records by such large margins.

[Powell]

Re: Olympic Greats

>
To get back to the point:
>how about Irena
>Szewinska's winning Olympic
>medals in 5 events?
>Nobody else in modern T&F has
>done that.
>

Marion Jones?

You're right. Let me rephrase, then: since WWII, nobody except Szewinska won Olympic medals in 4 individual events.

[Per Andersen]

Re: Olympic Greats

Alberto Juantorena with golds in the 400&800 in Montreal clearly belongs in this company and how about Jan Zelezny with 3 O.G. wins in a row in the Javelin. Will he make it 4 in a row next year in Athens?