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.)
Originally posted by aquageek
I have never understood how that guy qualified for the Olympics.
Me either, since I never did. It would be cool to swim that fast though.
I'm suprised that no one said anything about the swimmer from Africa. I think it was in 96 but not totally sure. He couldn't swim much at all, but they said that he had only one small hotel pool to practice in. I just remember thinking that took some balls to do that.It was Sydney 2000 and the swimmer was Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea. Moussambani was a wildcard entry in the race, part of a FINA program encourages the sport in countries where it is not traditionally practiced. He swam the 100 Free in a heat by himself because the other 2 in his heat appeared to intentionally false start to allow him to swim alone.
Qualification Heat 1
1, Eric Moussambani, Equatorial Guinea, 1:52.72.
NR, Karim Bare, Niger, DQ.
NR, Farkhod Oripov, Tajikstan, DQ.
I remember watching this really gorgeous young lady at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 100-meter breaststroke... fourth place at the 50, and comes back for the win. Boy, that was a moment. :cheerleader:
The '84 men's 800 freestyle relay with Bruce Hayes anchoring against Michael Gross. I knew Bruce from growing up in San Antonio. He was several years younger than me, but he was one of the fastest 10-and-unders in the country.
The strange thing I remember about that race is how the commentators basically gave up on the U.S. after Gross caught up with and passed Hayes midway through the final leg. As I recall, they talked about how the long streak of relay wins for the U.S. was over, Gross was the greatest, blah, blah, blah. And then Hayes came back at the end and outtouched Gross.
Then, a while later (weeks, months, can't remember exactly), the network put together a highlights show about the Olympics, and needless to say this race was one of the highlights. But they changed the commentary! Once Gross passed Hayes, instead of the commentators (the same ones as on the original broadcast) saying that the U.S. was finally going to lose a relay, they said something to the effect of, "Don't give up on the U.S. just yet--Bruce Hayes is known for his strong finishes." And, when the U.S. did win, the commentators seemed prophetic. If you hadn't watched the live broadcast of the event, you'd never know that they changed the commentary.
In non-swimming Olympics events, Dave Wottle's 800 is one of my earliest Olympic memories. Bob Hayes' anchor leg in the men's 4x100 m. relay in 1964 is one I don't remember seeing live, but many people swear that might still be the fastest 100 meters ever run.
I remember watching this really gorgeous young lady at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 100-meter breaststroke... fourth place at the 50, and comes back for the win. Boy, that was a moment. :cheerleader:She also had a pretty decent swim on the 400 Medley Relay.
hi, is my greatest olympic moment: the 4x100 free relay in Sydney 2000
www.youtube.com/watch
the turn of michael klim is amazing :bow:
and ofcourse Moussambani, www.youtube.com/watch
(don't mind the french commentors laughing at him :/, still funny though :P )
