Yeah, she was crying as she came down the homestretch. It was a beautiful shot.
After the women’s 100, that 20 year old Lauryn Williams (if I got her name right) came in second, and you could hear her yelling, “I GOT A SILVER. I GOT A SILVER.” She was so happy. Nice moment.
well from an Australian point of view - my favourite moments so far -
2 Grant Hackett’s win in the 1500m freestyle, when he could barely hold his head up from exhaustion and when he could barely climb onto the blocks afterwards to raise his arms in victory because his legs wouldn’t do what he wanted them to - a great example of courage and determination to overcome illness and retain his Olympic title.
Best moment for me so far was watching Kelly Holmes winning the women’s 800m for us (Brits) last night. She ran a really superb race in terms of tactics and timing, and she was really pushed to the limit by other, strong competitors who wanted the gold just as much as she did, so it was a genuine hard-fought win. The expression on her face when she finally saw the proof that she had won the gold was a joy to behold. Kelly comes across in all her interviews as a really nice, down-to-earth woman with a very winning modesty about her achievement, but she’s been working towards this for years (often thwarted by bad luck and injuries) and to see her come down that home straight and WIN, and then be so overjoyed about it, was a delight.
Biggest disappointment for me - Denise Lewis, our former gold-winning heptathete. Not only did she take gold in Sydney, but she’s also a really likeable young woman and (IMHO) drop dead gorgeous too. But sadly she withdrew from the competition because she just wasn’t able to deliver the goods and she knew it. A great shame.
I liked the Ian Thorpe 400 Free win. You could tell it really meant something to him.
I also liked watching Carolina Kluft dance around the track with her flag draped around her after winning the Heptathlon. I don’t know much about her personally but it seemed pretty cool that she asked the other athletes to come with her.
This puts me in mind of the Tanzanian runner, John Stephen Akhwari, from the Mexico City Games of 1968. He was dead last, injured, bandaged, limping. They’d almost forgotten about him, as he came hobbling into the stadium, hours after the winner. When asked why he hadn’t just quit he replied that “My country didn’t send me 5000 miles to start a race, they sent me 5000 miles to finish it…”
My favorite Olympic moment may be that when the officials saw this guy who wouldn’t give up, they stretched the winner’s tape across the track again, so he could break it.
I loved the womens pole valuting today (yesterday?..you guys are on the wrong day :D). I loved the expression on the winners face after she beat the world record. Such a look or pride, joy and (almost) shock.
It was a very cool moment.
Any of Petria Thomas’s gold medals will do me. Richly deserved considering the difficulties she has faced.
After the men’s all round gymnastics I think Hamm should only be mentioned in threads about shameful Olympic moments. Knowing he would earn (without dumb luck) other gold medals he should have forfeited the one wrongly given to him.
Interesting article: http://www.masterskier.com/extendedarticle.html
Another great moment from an earlier Olympics. When a runner sprained his ankle (or something), he didn’t give up, he started to HOP towarsd the finish line. Eventually his dad (IIRC) came out at let his son lean on him, eventually finishing the race. (amid much applause)
Brian
Mine is also the Women’s marathon.
The duel between the Japanese gold medalist and the Kenyan (?) silver medalist, with the Japanese woman looking behind her in the last few km’s with increasing concern…
…the GB world champion struggling with the heat and watching as her head bobbed up and down in increasing amplitude, and finally collapsing in total emotional and physical surrender. The crowds of GB fans in the stadium were watching this with increasing concern for their athlete and their complete despondence when she dropped out.
Finally, the American silver medalist slowly moving up the standings and finally passing the (then) third place runner with a burst of speed that could not be matched by her opponent, then breaking into sobs as she found out in the stadium that she would win a medal.
That was the best, by far.
I’ve read multiple articles (and I believe I remember the NBC commentators mentioning this the other night as well) saying that had Yang’s routine been scored correctly, he would have gained the 0.1 starting value but would have lost 0.2 for having four holds instead of the allowed three. There may still be some valid complaints about the scoring on Hamm’s vault, but it seems that that didn’t even get brought up until after the foofaraw over the parallel bar routine started. Hamm turned in a great performance, and it’s a shame that he can’t even enjoy his accomplishment any more. The look of sheer joy and amazement on his face when he learned he’d gotten the gold was wonderful.
I forgot to add the closeups of the women puking at the end of the race.
There was yet another injured athlete who got a huge ovation at the Sydney Games last time around, although outside of the UK and Australia it wasn’t reported much: this article tells the story of Chris Maddocks, who finished over an hour behind the winner of the 50km walk.
Cool pop-culture moment: when Maddocks reached the stadium, the PA announcer played “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers. If you’ll remember, the chorus of the song is “I would walk 500 miles/and I would walk 500 more…”
The expression on the face of the Russian pole vaulter after she set a new world record actually brought tears to my eyes.
Me too. I am such a wuss, but it was a really lovely moment.
Many great moments have been listed on this thread so far. But for me, the highlight was Joanna Hayes’ reaction when she found out she had won the gold medal in the 100m hurdles. (The favorite, Perdita Felicien of Canada, did not finish.)
First Hayes had a priceless expression of shock on her face.
Then she started smiling.
Then she started jumping up and down.
Then she knelt and put her face in her hands on the ground.
Then she rolled over onto her back.
Then she started kicking her legs into the air.
Ed
I loved seeing the Moroccan runner El Guerrouj win the 1500m. He has been the best in the world for a long time but never won the Olympics. It was a touching moment, all the other runners seemed genuinely happy for him.
Me too, I thought it said a whole lot the way all of his competitors immediately came up and congradulated him.
I also like the end of the 1500 meters in the decathalon. As soon as they crossed the finish line, the entire field just collapsed where they stood. Then they finally got up and all congradulated each other.