Having spent countless hours in front of the television set during Olympics past, I’ve compiled a list of my favourite moments from the ten summer games leading up to Rio 2016. It will be obvious there are sports I don’t watch, baseball, fencing, equestrian and archery among them. This is a personal selection, and not meant to be representative, but at least the fact that India sucks at all Olympic sports keeps it free of nationalistic bias.
Montreal 1976: Nadia Comaneci
Olga Korbut revolutionised gymnastics in the early 1970s, and Nadia Comaneci took those developments to a peak of perfection. A perfect 10 score being unheard of she leapt onto the asymmetrical bars for the first time in Montreal, the digital score board could not display four digits, and recorded her score as 1.00.
She had seven perfect tens in the competition, and while her performances on the bars now look a little dated, the ones on the balance beam retain their exquisiteness in our age, when rhythm has been compromised in favour of greater athleticism.
Honourable mention: Vasili Alexeev
In terms of body type, Vasili Alexeev was the polar opposite of Comaneci. A pot-bellied giant who for nearly a decade held the title of the world’s strongest man, Alexxev broke more world records than anybody in history, carefully raising the weights he lifted by half a kilogram at a time to secure the maximum number of bonuses awarded by Soviet authorities for establishing new marks. In Montreal he lifted a total of 440 kilograms on his way to the gold medal for weightlifting in the super heavyweight class.
Moscow 1980: Miruts Yifter
He was listed as 36 years old, rumoured to be a few years older than his official age, and looked older still, like a middle aged, balding clerk in a government office. But Ethiopia’s Miruts Yifter was one of the greatest long-distance runners in history, a man who wore out opponents with sudden surges of pace at odd moments, and then brought out a fearsome kick, or sudden acceleration at the death, which gave him his nickname Yifter the Shifter. In Moscow, he took apart the defending champion Lasse Viren of Finland in the 10,000-meter final, and also won gold in the 5,000-meter race.
Honourable mention: Sebastian Coe
In a slow, tactical race, Sebastian Coe outkicked his arch rival Steve Ovett to win the blue riband race among the middle distance races, the 1500 meter final.
Los Angeles 1984: Evander Holyfield
In the semi finals of the light heavyweight division at the LA Olympics, Evander Holyfield comprehensively outboxed his Kiwi opponent Kevin Barry. Barry was reduced to desperate clinches, leading the judge to stop the fight repeatedly to separate the boxers. At the end of one clinch, Holyfield put Barry on the floor with a hard right, ending the bout. There was a sting in the tail, though, for the referee judged the knockout punch to have been thrown after he had yelled for them to break. Holyfield’s dignity in the face of a grossly unfair decision made him more fans than a gold medal would have done. He went on to become one of the most celebrated boxers of the 1990s, as did Roy Jones Jr. who was robbed of a gold medal four years later in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Honourable mention: Nawal el Moutawakil and P T Usha
The inaugural 400 meter women’s hurdles race at the Olympics was won by the Moroccan Nawal el Moutawakil. The first woman born on the African continent to gain an athletics gold medal, Moutawakil decisively broke the hegemony that Europe, the USA and Australia had enjoyed for decades in women’s track and field. PT Usha of India narrowly missed out on a bronze in the same race, as India began a long spell without an Olympic medal, one that was finally broken when Leander Paes won bronze in the tennis singles in Atlanta 12 years later.
Seoul 1988: Ben Johnson
It was the greatest sprint ever run. The reigning champion Carl Lewis was one of the most gifted athletes in history, but his arrogance and churlishness made him difficult to like. I, like millions of others, was cheering for his rival the powerfully built Canadian Ben Johnson. Johnson established an early lead and built on it with every step, creating such a gap between him and the second-places Lewis that he could raise an imperious arm in victory before crossing the finish line. Johnson’s time of 9.79 obliterated the world record. The joy of his fans turned to depression soon after, as the word "Stanozolol" and phrase "anabolic steroid" entered popular consciousness. In the next few years, a series of champions like Marion Jones, Linford Christie and Justin Gatlin fell from grace, and it seemed the sport was irreversibly contaminated, until a saviour emerged who crushed opponents even more ruthlessly than Ben Johnson had done, and combined transcendent athletic prowess with bucket loads more charisma that the taciturn Johnson ever possessed. If Usain Bolt ever tests positive for performance enhancing drugs, I will swear off track and field for the rest of my life.
Barcelona 1992: Fu Mingxia
She wanted to be a gymnast, but her coaches found her body wasn’t flexible enough for her to be a top contender. They suggested she might be better suited to diving, but Fu Mingxia couldn’t even swim. That proved a minor hurdle, and Mingxia was soon absorbed into China’s rigorous sports training system, where she rose through the ranks with astonishing speed. She made her Olympic debut while still short of her 14th birthday, and dominated the 10 meter springboard competition in Barcelona. Mingxia went on to win two more gold medals in Atlanta, and a fourth in Sydney.
Honourable mention: Vitaly Scherbo
Scerbo won five individual golds and one team goldin Barcelona, dominating the discipline as no male gymnast before or after. His wife suffered a horrible accident in 1996, and Scherbo stopped training to tend to her. He tried to return after she had recovered, but wasn’t in peak condition in Atlanta, failing to repeat his 1992 success.
Atlanta 1996: Kerri Strug
East European nations had won every all-around team gold in women’s gymnastics since the second world war. The US, coached in the East European style by Nadia Comaneci’s former coach Bela Karolyi who had defected to the United States in 1981, were in a good position to overturn those decades of dominance. Then Kerri Strug fell and damaged her ankle ligaments while completing her first vault. She had to do it one more time to ensure her team won. She gritted her teeth, ran up to the apparatus, and managed an exceptional vault before collapsing to the floor.
Honourable mention: Miguel Indurain
Spain’s greatest cyclist was in the twilight of his career when cycling at the Olympics was opened up to professionals. He beat out the likes of Chris Boardman and Lance Armstrong on his way to a time trial gold.
Sydney 2000: Cathy Freeman
Although deprived of a true challenger after her foremost rival and reigning champion Marie Jose-Perec dropped out, Cathy Freeman’s triumph in the 400 meter race counts as the highlight of the Sydney Olympics for three reasons. There was the home crowd roaring her on. There was her weird outfit, half burkini and half alien costume. And there was first aboriginal Australian to win an individual gold medal in any competition at the Olympics.
Honourable mention: Steve Redgrave
Suffering from ulcerative colitis and diabetes, the 38 year old Steve Redgrave, who had retired after winning his fourth gold medal in rowing in 1996, came back for one more title. The British team achieved a famous victory in the coxless fours, but at the end Redgrave looked too exhausted to celebrate. Why would anybody put themselves through the torture of months and years of training in an endurance sport after they have done what nobody else in history has managed? It’s a kind of masochism that’s at the root of Olympic greatness.
Athens 2004: Hicham El Guerrouj
He is arguably the greatest middle distance runner in history, but Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj failed for years to translate his dominance of the 1,500-meter discipline into Olympic success. In 1996, he tripped and fell while placed comfortably and finished last in a 12-man field. Four years later, he managed only a silver. He finally won the gold he coveted in what is probably the greatest 1500 meter race ever run. His rival for the crown, Kenya’s Bernard Lagat, was at his shoulder as the runners began the final lap. In textbook fashion, Lagat overtook Guerrouj as they came off the final bend, and it looked like the Moroccan would have to settle for second best again. But he found some reserve of energy and retook the lead at the finish line. Guerrouj went on to win the 5,000-meter final four days later, and immediately retired.
Honourable mention: Michael Phelps
Smashing the record in the men’s 4 X 100 meter individual medley, Michael Phelps introduced himself to the world outside of hard core fans of swimming as the best all round swimmer in the world. He has gone on to prove by far the best swimmer in history and one among a small short list of contenders for the title of greatest athlete of all time.
Beijing 2008: Tirunesh Dibaba
East Africa has produced dozens of world beating long distance runners, but Tirunesh Dibaba is among the most decorated of them all. She comes from perhaps the most exceptional family in contemporary sports history. Her cousin Derartu Tulu is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, her older sister Ejegayehu won a silver in Athens, and her younger sister Genzebe currently holds six world records. Even among these over-achievers, Tirunesh’s three golds and three bronze medals stand out. In Beijing in 2008, she won both the 10 km event and gold at half that length, duplicating her compatriot Miruts Yifter’s feat from 1980. Dibaba won a bronze in the Rio 10,000 meters final.
Honourable mention: Yelena Isinbayeva
The alluring Isinbayeva has brought more attention to the highly technical pole vault than even the great Sergei Bubka managed. In Beijing, she won her second consecutive gold medal with a world record vault, establishing herself as the greatest woman pole vaulter in history.
London 2012: Lin Dan
It came down to mental strength in the end. China’s Lin Dan trailed the world number one, Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei 18-19 in the final game, but reeled off three successive points to grab his second consecutive badminton singles gold medal. When it comes to the biggest occasions, Chong Wei chokes, and Lin Dan always seems to find a way to win. Lin Dan is hugely charismatic like Yelena Isinbayeva and Usain Bolt, and though badminton isn’t a widely popular sport, China’s billion people provide a massive base of fans and supporters.
Honourable mention: David Rudisha
Middle-distance running is often a game of cat and mouse, but once in a while a runner will take a race by the scruff of the neck from the start and never let go. In London, David Rushida provided a breath-taking example of grabbing the lead and keeping it till the finish line, shattering the 800 metre world record in the process. He retained his title in Rio, but it is his run in 2012 that will remain a classic.
