What is your favorite memory.The most amazing race I ever saw was the 200 Breaststroke in the 1968 Olympics. The only gold medal won by a Mexican at the Games Was by Felipe Munoz. Every time he breathed the crowd screamed MEXICO, I have never experienced such passion for a swimming event,(I only saw it on T.V. I can't imagine what it was like in person.)
Former Member
Daley Thompson 2nd consecutive Gold in the Decathlon. (He's from my home town).
I liked Daley's efforts too. I also enjoying watching Dan Jansen finally get a gold medal in speed skating after falling down so much. It was inspiring to watch Joan Benoit Samuelson win the first ever women's marathon. I enjoyed watching Grant Hackett beat Kieran Perkins in the 1500 in 2000 after botching up his other races a bit.
What a story: 1988 Seoul Olympics. An African man won gold in 100 butterfly ahead of legendary Biondi and Gross. More important point is the open-minded American culture giving this chance to him. This is something to appreciate.
:applaud::applaud::applaud:
Anthony Nesty (born on November 25, 1967) is a Surinamese former swimmer, the second black athlete to win an Olympic medal in swimming (after Enith Brigitha) in Montreal 1976). Nesty established this historic milestone at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In the 100 m butterfly, Nesty out-touched then-favorite Matt Biondi by .01; Nesty finished in 53.00 and Biondi in 53.01. Nesty is the only Olympic medal winner from Suriname and after winning his Olympic gold medal, Nesty was unbeaten at the 100 meters butterfly for three years.
Biography
Anthony Nesty was born in Trinidad and Tobago, the youngest of five children. Nesty's family migrated to Suriname but the exact age of his emigration is unclear: some biographies of the athlete say 'at nine months old' and others say 'at three years old.' Nesty trained and competed in Suriname and the Caribbean through the beginning of his teenage years. After placing 21st in the 100m fly at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Nesty entered the Bolles Prep School in Jacksonville, Florida, a renowned program for training and preparation of elite, world-class swimmers. While at Bolles as a sophomore, Nesty broke the prep school 100-yard butterfly record held by Pablo Morales. Breaking Morales's record was the beginning of numerous other successes for Nesty. In 1987, he won the gold medal in the 100m butterfly and the bronze medal in the 200m butterfly at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, Indiana. These victories established the foundation that would lead to his successes at the Seoul Olympics.
Nesty's victory in Seoul was a momentous social and political event for Afro-Caribbeans. The Suriname government commemorated Nesty's gold-medal performance on a stamp and on gold and silver coins. A 25 Guilders bank note portraying the illustration of a butterfly swimmer was printed in his honor.
After his gold in Seoul, Nesty enjoyed a successful swimming career at the University of Florida, winning three consecutive NCAA Championships in the 100-yard butterfly (1990-92), one in the 200-yard butterfly (1990), and one as a member of the school's 400-yard medley relay (1991). He also won gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly at the Goodwill Games in 1990 and the FINA World Championships in 1991. Nesty attempted to defend his 1988 gold medal in the 100 fly at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but ended up with a third-place bronze medal.
Currently, Anthony Nesty is an assistant coach at the University of Florida. After serving as the men's assistant coach his first year, Nesty now is involved with both the men's and women's programs, but primarily works with the men's team.
1984 Olympics men's 200 meter Butterfly with Michael Gross of W Germany, Pablo Morales of the United States and some other great swimmer from Venuzela. I saw it on TV. All the commentators John Nabor and Donna Devaronna said it would be which of those guys got the Gold, Silver and Bronze.
3 minutes after the race started Donna Devaronna was interviewing Australian Jon Sieben the new world record holder and Gold Medalist in the 200 meter Butterfly. Sieben 17 years old had never gone below 2 minutes until that morning. John Sieben was about 12" shorter than Michael Gross and 17 years old. He was also a very polite young man in the interview.
Some of you have really dated yourselves in this thread!!
Mt favorite Olympic swimming moment was probably not even during an event. I thought it was great when Phelps allowed Crocker to swim in his place for the medley relay he helped qualify for. He could have preserved the glory for himself but chose to be a team player. I was not a swimmer at the time but I loved hearing that story on the news.
I have a couple (obviously a slight British slant)
Linford Christie 's Gold in the 100m in Barcelona
Daley Thompson 2nd consecutive Gold in the Decathlon. (He's from my home town).
Eddie the Eagle. We knew he'd not do well but we loved him for "having a go."
Other than that....anytime an underdog upsets the odds.
NB I don't think Linford did them...Daley Thompson possibly...just look at the trapezius muslces and compare 84 to 88.
I've heard Linford did, but that is speculation, not proof, so not worth much. I'd take Daley's trap muscles. I'm pretty much willing to substitute anatomies with lots of folks who didn't swim 200 flys in their youth. Don't you have an Olympic breaststroke moment you love? What about when John Moffet, the world record holder at the time, torn a muscle in prelims, couldn't swim in the finals and still cheered on his teammate Steve Lundquist? You said you like underdogs...
I've heard Linford did, but that is speculation, not proof, so not worth much. I'd take Daley's trap muscles. I'm pretty much willing to substitute anatomies with lots of folks who didn't swim 200 flys in their youth. Don't you have an Olympic breaststroke moment you love? What about when John Moffet, the world record holder at the time, torn a muscle in prelims, couldn't swim in the finals and still cheered on his teammate Steve Lundquist? You said you like underdogs...
He was banned in 99...he protests his innocence and has offered to take a lie detector test. My issue with picking one out for a test result it is that I believe they have probably all messed with gear they should not have at one time or another, or been given something by a coach that may not be illegal but possibly questionable or later made illegal. So maybe Linford did take stuff, but it can't be proven that he did or didn't in 1992. Do you believe Lance Armstrong took drugs or not? His gold was still for me a great moment...if the original question was about our personal memories.
If you want to talk about outright great olympic moments I'd go With Hilter walking out on Jesse Owens' debunking his "master race" theory in front of the world.
Breaststroke is easy. Wilkie.
I'm not a huge olympics person I watch it if I am not doing something else but I don't know who is who. I don't really know half of the swimmers everyone goes on about either, but that is just me. I'm more of a "do" not "watch" guy with my sports. I don't mean that I do tons but I watch less.
On a side note I know a guy who turned down going to Seoul as a last minute reserve. The BOC wanted to basically ship him out there give him a few hours rest then have him swim. Call me silly but I think I'd have gone and just busted my ass and see what happened...there's always a "Rudy" tale at every games...
Do you believe Lance Armstrong took drugs or not? His gold was still for me a great moment...if the original question was about our personal memories.
There's a whole separate thread on La Lance and whether he was drugging. Go search for it nimble fingers. The latest I read in Outdoor Magazine was that Lance was still defending Floyd Landis even though the French all but declared Oscar Peirero the winner. But I recall Lance won an Olympic bronze. (It was Tyler Hamilton, an EPO positive tester, that got to keep his Olympic gold.) You must be mixing up all Lance's Tour de France victories. I hope you're at least watching that if you're not watching the Olympics. What could be better to watch on TV? The "Biggest Loser?" :rofl:
Let's not turn this into a drug thread.
Linford was busted for drugs. So was Ben Johnson, Duane Chambers, Tim Montgomery and recently Justin Gatlin. This has stolen the spotlite and tarnished the records from others such as Carl Lewis (the greatest) Donovan Bailey and Maurice Green.
You could go on and on.
Regardless of drugs, what are the best Olympic performances?
If you can find them on YouTube, please post, I love watching them. Here is one more:
www.youtube.com/watch
