Waxing Nostalgic about the Olympics.

by LDH 5 Replies latest social physical

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  LDH

  Surely I'm not the only one on this board who loves the Olympics?

  I mean LOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEESSSSSS the Olympics!!!!

  Now that Chad Hedrick has won the first gold medal for the US I can breathe again. USA Women's hockey is up 2 -0 to Switzerland.

  Yep, I admit it. I have always been a sucker for the Olympics (can you tell). Remember Vonetta Flowers in 2002 being the first black US woman to win a medal at the Winter Olympics?

  Remember the style Edwin Moses had when sailing over the high hurdles to the Gold Medal in 1976 and then again in 1984????? WTF? Gold medalist 8 years apart!

  (By the way-- For a decade he dominated the hurdles, accumulating the most amazing string of consecutive victories ever amassed by an individual athlete. Over a period of nearly 10 years, from August 1977 until May 1987, Moses collected 122 straight victories.

  Moses, a physicist from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., is known for utilizing the applied sciences to perfect the technical aspects of his athletic performances in his event, the 400-meter hurdles. This knowledge also enabled him to create, implement, and administer the world's most stringent random and out-of-competition testing systems for performance-enhancing drugs in sports.)

  http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/moses_bio.html

  Remember watching Carl Lewis, and Kerri Strug, and Mary Lou Retton, FloJo, Rulan Gardner, and every one else who lifted you higher for a moment in time?

  Who is your favorite Olympic athlete and why?

  Lisa
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  hemp lover

  I love the underdog stories, like the Jamaican bobsled team and the 1980 U.S. hockey team. I was in 8th grade that year and I got really sick for about a month, so I was home from school every day. I watched every single hockey game of that Olympics. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience to watch that last gold medal game live. I still get chills when I think about Al Michaels "Do you believe in miracles?" line and the goalie, Jim Craig(?), with the flag draped over his shoulder, looking for his father in the stands.

  And Mary Lou Retton scoring a 10 on the last vault when that's what was needed to win.

  The Olympics are about the only time I ever feel nationalistic or patriotic (not sure which is the right word there).
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  LDH

  OK Hemp lover, it's just me and you babe.

  I really felt bad for Michelle Kwan yesterday.
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  Clam

  I've got some home grown national heroes like Daley Thomson, Seb Coe and Steve Redgrave ( 5 consecutive golds in rowing!). I have also enjoyed great US Athletes over the years. As a youngster I competed best at 400m, and one group of guys that really stuck out were the old US relay team of Lee Evans, Ron Freeman, Larry James and Vince Matthews. I vaguelly recall Lee Evans being in trouble in Munich over black power stuff on the rostrum.
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  lonelysheep

  I really felt bad for Michelle Kwan yesterday.

  I did, too. I think her people must've pushed her to petition and go to Turin despite her previous injury.

  Because of the fun I had skating as a little girl, I'm a sucker for anyone on the skating team.

  Overall, it's Mary Lou Retton. Seeing her as a child sent the message of "you can do anything you dream."

  Last year, Justin Gatlin (track).
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  kristyann

  I love Kristi Yamaguchi... the gold medalist from the USA for women's figure skating in 1992 at Alberta.