Dhondy Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 14 May 1996, Atlanta Olympics, 200 meter finals. Michael Johnson lines up in Lane 3, inside his closest rivals, Frankie Fredericks from Namibia in 5, and Ato Boldon from Trinidad in 6. There is a buzz around the stadium as the crowd waits for the athletes to take up their positions in the starting blocks. Johnson has earlier won the 400m, smashing the Olympic record in the process, but narrowly falling short of the world record. Can he make amends? The crowd falls silent as the starter raises his gun, and then explodes into a roar as Johnson and the others spring off the starting blocks like howitzers. Boldon is always the best starter, and seems to be in lead, Fredericks seems to be just behind. Where's Johnson? Brendan Foster on BBC takes up the commentary, "Boldon, Fredericks, Johnson...Johnson moving into the lead, it's Johnson..." The field athletes around the shot put area gaped as the great man turned for home. As the phalanx of sprinters burst round the bend, they seemed to be neck and neck. And then, as the bend unravelled, it was clear that they were not even close. Johnson was in lead, and stretching away, running in his inimitable style, chest out, short strides, legs pumping like massive pistons, eyes focussed on infinity, completely oblivious to the growing crescendo in the stadium. Over the last 40 meters, it seemed he was running a different race to all the others. Foster was besides himself with excitement, "It's Johnson...and Johnson is destroying the field...it's Michael Johnson...and the world record has goneeee! 19.32 seconds. The previous record of 19.64 s had been smashed like cheap crockery. A man had run two back to back 100 meters in 9.66 seconds. I witnessed it in my first month in a new country, crouched in front of the television like a man in trance. At the end, I rose silently and just clapped, an audience of one in the darkened living room. Yet inside, I was shouting in exaltation, incredulous, disbelieving, awestruck at what I had just been privy to. It remains the greatest sporting feat I have ever witnessed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Super thread Dhondy. I sure do remember that moment. Somehow I always laughed at MJ's running style but boy did he create history that night. I beleive he still is the only athlete to win 200 and 400 in same Olympics. One of my favorite moments is 1996 Olympics woman gymnastics. American female gymnasts faught up the strong Russian team and during one of the preliminaries one of their athletes had broken ankle. The athlete, Kerry Strug, had been overshadowed by her illustrious partensr from USSA, China and even USA. She was the person to do a last vault..and she had broken her leg. In what seemed impossible she ran on the vault(my fav Olympic gymnastic event by the way) hit it, went over it with grace and poise and landed on one ankle..the gold, and every single fan was won. Truly a triumph of pure will for country. Wish our prima donna cricketers had it. xxxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhondy Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Yes, Lurker, the Olympics where the statesque Svetlana Khorkina made her first appearance, and Lila Podkopayeva won the all round gold ahead of crowd favorite Shannon Miller. And Strug...what can you say? I vaguely remember her vault, and the celebrations that followed. Defies medicine, physiology, common sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Super thread Dhondy. I sure do remember that moment. Somehow I always laughed at MJ's running style but boy did he create history that night. I beleive he still is the only athlete to win 200 and 400 in same Olympics. One of my favorite moments is 1996 Olympics woman gymnastics. American female gymnasts faught up the strong Russian team and during one of the preliminaries one of their athletes had broken ankle. The athlete, Kerry Strug, had been overshadowed by her illustrious partensr from USSA, China and even USA. She was the person to do a last vault..and she had broken her leg. In what seemed impossible she ran on the vault(my fav Olympic gymnastic event by the way) hit it, went over it with grace and poise and landed on one ankle..the gold, and every single fan was won. Truly a triumph of pure will for country. Wish our prima donna cricketers had it. xxxx Wow... that was an inspiring event, thanks for bringing to attention :wtg: I'm not much of an olympic fan apart from following few guys owing to geogrphical allegiance but was charged up watching Ben Johnson beat Lewis in the 1998 Olympics. Unfortunately he was found for doping and had to give up the record as well as the medal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tendulkar Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever gymnastics is not even a sport IMO. It is a glorified dancing competetion, same goes for ice dancing. These things should not be classed as sports and should not be in olympics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioman Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire - Ali vs Foreman. Have heard a lot about the fight. I didn't witness it myself, was not old enough to understand anything. But the stories I hear about it and the articles I've read about the build-up to it are fascinating. Surely, this must be one of the top contenders. Or maybe we will see it in about 4-5 yrs' time when Federer wins his 25th Grand Slam. :shrug: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kumble_rocks Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Ali versus Foreman was a overrated fight , IMO. The two greatest sporting achievement would be a. India winning the world cup in 1983 wherein the odds of winning was 66 to 1 in favor of Windies b. James buster douglas knocking Iron Mike in 1990 in Tokyo wherein the odds of winning was 48 to 1 in favor of Mike Tyson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tendulkar Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Brazil 1970 world cup winning team. Maradonas goal in 1986. India winning the Kolkata test after following on and then going on to win the series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tendulkar Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever :lmao: :lmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Predator_05 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Hard to pick just one, but you could narrow it down to one from each sport; Cricket - India's '83 WC win or that Australia-SA semi at the '99 WC Football - far too many to choose from ! I'd personally go for Zidane's volley in the '02 Champions League final vs Leverkusen Tennis - too many to choose from, but my personal fav is the '01 US Open QF between Agassi and Sampras - 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, the two greatest tennis players of their generation playing out of their skins. Basketball - Jordan's 35 point game vs the Blazers in the '92 NBA finals Football (NFL) - Titans vs Rams, '00 Superbowl - best match ever; those who watched it would agree Ice Hockey - '80 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid - the "miracle on ice". A group of spotty looking college kids upset the might Soviets who had won gold in 5 of the last 6 Winter Olympics at the time. Boxing - too many to choose from. I'd go for Gatti vs Ward (the final one), not for the fainthearted. I watched it, so i could write a lengthy piece on it but won't bother (too lazy atm). Instead i'll copy this from wikipedia; The third fight between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward had it all -- at least one fractured hand, two bloody faces, a stunning knockdown, and a screaming sellout crowd of 12,643 roaring its approval. Gatti broke his twice-repaired right hand on an uppercut to the hip in the fourth, and he dropped his arm, wincing in pain. He fought nearly one-handed for several rounds afterward, using his right sparingly. In the sixth, Gatti dominated the round but got caught with an overhand right to the top of the head a second before the bell rang and went down. Gatti then recovered again and was never in trouble after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Single greatest one? That's tough given the amount of sports I watch. My top 3, not in any order. 1. Basketball (NBA) Lakers vs Portand western coference finals, game 7, 2000 in LA. I am at the airport waiting for my return flight to San Francisco. In a small bar, with people cheering the hometown lakers, down by 15 points in the 4th quarter, saw Kobe willing da lakers to the NBA finals. 2. Cricket India vs Pakistan, WC 2003, Sunnyvale, CA. A sea of people sitting on the floor of Banjara Hills Restaurant to watch India vs Pakistan. I had advance tickets ($10), thought will arrive just in time, only to find that I had to find my own little spot to squat my ass on the floor for 8 hours. And what a game it was! The best cricket match I have ever watched live. 1983 world cup finals was amazing as well, but the ambience of the 2003 match makes it better for personally. 3. Track and Field Ben Johnson over Carl Lewis, 1988, Seoul Olympics. Sportstar headlines - Ben, Gun and Gold. What a shame that the guy ended up deceiving millions by being drugged when he ran the race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Brilliant thread. I dont know about greatest sporting moment, as each sport is different and requires diff kind of skills, but yes, 19.32 secs (avg of 9.66 per 100 meters) is unbelievable. Lurker, thanks for that inspiring story. Very nice read. I used to be glued to basketball when Jordan played. To me, he was the quintessential athlete, no one could top him. I'd pick his last game vs Utah Jazz in the NBA finals as the greatest ever sporting moment i have ever witnessed. Cricket has provided many great moments, but none could top Jordan's exploits, for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioman Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Tennis - too many to choose from, but my personal fav is the '01 US Open QF between Agassi and Sampras - 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, the two greatest tennis players of their generation playing out of their skins. Better than the Borg-McEnroe tie-breaker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Great is a term often used in sports, too often quite loosely. Three men who stand out in my mind as greats in show of strength happen to be from the field of wrestling, boxing and weightlifting. No boxer, atleast in amateur world, has perhaps ever been as good as Teofelo Stevenson from Cuba and similarly no weightlifter has been stronger(and perhaps popular) than Solomonglu from Bulgaria. I shall write about them some other time, this piece is about the third one..although it was not his favorite moment. By most accounts Russian Alexander Karelin is the greatest wrestler in Olympics history. A mountain of a man he was so strong that wrestlers would lose heart before facing him in the ring. Indeed he was alleged to have been part of Russian "experiments", a euphemism for steroids behind Iron Curtain. What his critics sometimes failed to realize was how hard Karelin trained. Amongst other things he is reputed to have once hoisted a 300 pound refrigerator on his back and hoist it to the top floor of 8th floor building!! Karelin could not participate in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics(due to Soviet boycott) but then went on to win 1988,1992,1996 Gold medals. He had not lost a single point, let alone a single game, in past 10 years. Which was why every single Olympic dignitary turned up to watch the 2000 Sydney Greco-Roman finals, Juan Antonio Samaranch inluded(IOC chief). The second character in the two-person finals was a somewhat rolly-polly character, Rulond Gardner. Hailing from United States he had been teased as fat while growing up and would leave football for wrestling. His success that night was perhaps as secure as an Indian athlete winning the 100 m dash. But he had two things going for him - 1) He had only 2 matches that night as against Karelin's 3. 2) He refused to kow down to Karelin's reputation and instead decided to give as good as he received, and if possible have some fun. The two completely different men met and in what should rank as one of the greatest upsets ever Gardner beat Karelin. It was so stunning that there noone in the stadium who had witnessed the match beleived it. Even Gardner himself said that he realized he could win this one, "only 10 minutes before the close of the game". At the end of the upset he would roll off his suspenders from his shoulders, let out a huge wail uplifting the underdogs of this world. The unbeatable had been beaten. [from that epic final. Red - Karelin Blue - Gardner] xxxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tendulkar Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Torvill and Deans olympic gold. Barnyveld beating Phil "the power" Taylor in recent darts world final. Dennis taylor beating Steve " The nugget" Davis to win snooker world championship on the final black. Classic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaurav Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever gymnastics is not even a sport IMO. It is a glorified dancing competetion, same goes for ice dancing. These things should not be classed as sports and should not be in olympics. Try doing few pull ups and then tell me that :hic: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MundaPakistani Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever Good thread! For now i'll just do it for cricket Headingly 1981 When ENG were reduced to 135/7 they still needed close to 100 runs to avoid the INNINGS DEFEAT yet Botham, Wills and Dilley coined the greatest resurrection ever seen in the game of cricket....First Bottam and Dilley shared a massive 8th wicket partnership of 117 and gave ENG an outside chance leaving AUS with 130 to win the test match and then Bob Wills produced the greatest spell of his career and AUS were blown away for mere 111. Kolkata 2001 No need to remind you folks of what happened...that innings from VVS Laxman was probably the greatest innings that i have ever seen. World cup 1992 After winning only one out of the first 5 matches (even that was against the minnows) PAK went on to win the next 5 matches in a row to lift the cup.... this included a win over the defending champs AUS and 2 wins over NZ who at that time were by far the most in form team in the world. The semi final was especially memorable where a completely unknown kid from Multan went on to play arguably the most influential World cup innings ever! The final was also quite memorable in which Wasim Akram produced 2 of the most unplayable balls and marked the most joyous moment in PAK cricket history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shailesh Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever hmm agree with first 2, not with the 3rd because Australia in WC99 did it under much tougher circumstances. In WC 92 Pakistan had luck playing a major role with the 1 point received in rained out game v England. after getting bowled out for 74, WC was over there and then if it wasn't for the rain. :shrug: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MundaPakistani Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever hmm agree with first 2, not with the 3rd because Australia in WC99 did it under much tougher circumstances. In WC 92 Pakistan had luck playing a major role with the 1 point received in rained out game v England. after getting bowled out for 74, WC was over there and then if it wasn't for the rain. :shrug: point taken on AUS's WC win in 1999... I am sure I missed quite a few other great performances e.g that Sharjah match between SL and PAK .. i also accept that PAK were lucky to walk away with 1 point against ENG how ever had it not been for rain we would have definitely beaten SA so it all evened out....in fact if any thing PAK were robbed of 1 point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Dooku Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Re: The Greatest Sporting Performance Ever For me there are two: 1. WC 83 - India vs WI. Why? Because I was there and what a feeling. 2. Ali vs. Foreman - Wasn't there. Seen the full version and how Ali used his brain to get better of Foreman. That's brain over brawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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