mump boy wrote:4 Points Super Saturday 45 points Ben Johnson start/race 88 52 points 28th Steve Ovett 800m 80 58 points
Ovett was mine, but discussed further up the thread. I think I might have added Super Sat, if I had the experience of seeing it uninterrupted, but I saw it as a highlight reel that didn't do it justice. Reading the descriptions above make it sound amazing.
I had the Ben Johnson/DQ which got three votes. And now the Ben Johnson start here gets four votes. So in reality he is pulling in seven votes. Despite the notoriety, that race is hard to beat when it comes to the WOW factor.
I had Ovett and Johnson for quite opposite reasons: Ovett was my boyhood hero; Big Bad Ben was the ultimate villain, although now i see him slightly differently.
When placing votes I took the topic quite literally and in most cases can think of a precise moment in each race that makes it special for me. For the Moscow 800 it was the moment of relief when Ovett kicked into the home straight and you knew there was no Coe could get up with. I'd never felt so nervous before a race (even my own). I'll never forget the outpouring of emotion - more relief than ecstasy - as my brother and I bounced off the furniture. I also loved the moment on teh first lap when Steve sent Wagenecht into lane 5. It wasn't something British sportsmen tended to do!
I really wanted Lewis to win in 88, although in hindsight I'm far more drawn to Johnson as an individual. I can't think of any other race where you knew the outcome within half a second of the gun going off. That for me was the moment - Johnson's 2nd or 3rd stride. Within 10m I was screaming what I'm sure Lewis was thinking in his head: "Oh no, not again!!".
1. Jessica Ennis and the way she exploded in the homestretch. You knew she was ready after the 100h, and you knew she had the gold in the bag with a mid effort 800, but to watch her take it by the scruff of the neck on that last homestretch - well, that's what legends are made of.
I couldn't agree more. All afternoon I'd been thinking this would be less of a race and more of a coronation. If there had been 80,000 athletics fans in the stadium we would have all applauded nicely, understanding we were watching a foregone conclusion. But these were 80,000 members of Joe Public who were going to cheer as loundly as if it were an individual final and the gold depended upon it. I was sat looking directly down the home stretch and felt the goose bumps go up as she moved wide. It felt like we were blowing her home. Subsequently, like everyone I've seen the photo of her crossing the line. Arms outstretched and a look of total calm on her face. My favourite celebration ever.
Watch that home stretch head on. Have you ever seen so little strain on the face of someone so close to giving their all?
Of course, Mo's 10 was fantastic but for me it pales by comparison with the 5000. More of that later, no doubt.
Daisy wrote:I had the Ben Johnson/DQ which got three votes. And now the Ben Johnson start here gets four votes. So in reality he is pulling in seven votes. Despite the notoriety, that race is hard to beat when it comes to the WOW factor.
I wasn't sure wheat to do with that, the race and the DQ felt like 2 distinct things especially as some people specifically said the start. Do you think they should all be added together ??
No, I like the way you split it. It shows that there was so much to get out of that race from a spectators perspective.
Daisy wrote:I had the Ben Johnson/DQ which got three votes. And now the Ben Johnson start here gets four votes. So in reality he is pulling in seven votes. Despite the notoriety, that race is hard to beat when it comes to the WOW factor.
I wasn't sure wheat to do with that, the race and the DQ felt like 2 distinct things especially as some people specifically said the start. Do you think they should all be added together ??
No, I like the way you split it. It shows that there was so much to get out of that race from a spectators perspective.
Cool
Some i've compiled because it would have left massive names and achievements lanquishing at the bottom of the pile because they were split up
Daisy wrote:I had the Ben Johnson/DQ which got three votes. And now the Ben Johnson start here gets four votes. So in reality he is pulling in seven votes. Despite the notoriety, that race is hard to beat when it comes to the WOW factor.
I wasn't sure wheat to do with that, the race and the DQ felt like 2 distinct things especially as some people specifically said the start. Do you think they should all be added together ??
No, I like the way you split it. It shows that there was so much to get out of that race from a spectators perspective.
So true. Ali-Fraizer is an apt comparison. I seem to remember Tom Tellez told Lewis that in both the 87 WC & the 88 Oly, his best race was the semi-finals, and that he was way too tight in each final. The fruit of that advice was the 91 WC ... but then again, facing Burrell et al was not in the same league as lining up next to Ben Johnson.
Rog wrote:I also voted for Mary Peters. Her win was before my time, but from what I've seen since it was a classic competition in which she had to make the most of her strengths in the first three events to withstand the rush from Rosendahl in the LJ and 200. It must have been close to an optimal performance. She only just held on.
Here in Northern Ireland, Mary is still a big deal, and she comes across as a lovely lady. My mum and Granny used to know her, my Mother particularly, and they were both very fond of her.
Have to say though my earliest memory is not being able to understand how Mary had won, when other women had clearly finished ahead of her in the race I'd watched (I was very small at the time and the niceties of multi-event scoring were beyond me!)...
I also voted for Peters' win from the 1972 Olympics. It was also before my time but I've seen bits of it on youtube and television and the way Ron Pickering calls the 200m and encapsulates how close it was between her and Rosendahl makes it feels like I don't know the outcome and I'm watching it for the first time. It's one of my favourite pieces of commentary and I voted for that just as much as the competition itself.
Of these I voted for Bikila and Wottle, but might have voted almost anyone … except for "TBO", which, I must admit, seems mysterious to me. I checked both men's and womens' medalists in 400m in 2008 Olympics, but did not find anyone with TBO as initials.
But, to my favorites: Bikila's barefoot win was something so special that I gave it 19 points even though I was not even born yet. Something to think about for all those who believe in the necessity of high-tech running shoes. He was the first distance winner from sub-Sahara Africa, the forerunner of Ethiopian excellence. He also had a Finnish connection, since his coach, Onni Niskanen, was originally Finnish.
Wottle's run is one that I have watched dozens of times in YouTube, and even my kids love it. "Guess who is going to win." Certainly not the guy with the funny cap, who seems like a tourist jogging for some reason in the same track with the serious contenders far ahead.
I voted for Felix Sanchez regaining his Olympic 400m hurdles title last year. I've never been much of a fan of his until recently but as someone who was also brought up by their grandparents and lost one of them at an early age, I found it really endearing how he was inspired by the memory of his grandmother, who also brought him up as a child. I also have a lot of respect for champions who suffer adversity before rekindling some of their best form at an advanced ago (Mutola at the World Indoors in 2006 too) so even without knowing Sanchez's motivation, I still probably would have voted for him.
Mainly because she won me a load of money and i did an involuntary forward roll across my living room
I always thought it was hilarious that Sanya crossed he line with her silly arm and leg things hanging round her ankles and complaining of some made up injury
Mainly because she won me a load of money and i did an involuntary forward roll across my living room
That might have been one of my biggest omissions. I cheered for ages when she won and had a tear in my eye considering the battle she had to get there and the mistakes she made that meant she was seen as something she wasn't.
Olli wrote:So, now I guess Ohuruogu is called TBO. Could you please finally tell me why.
It means 'The Big O'. I only learned this a couple of days ago. I guess it's partly as her surname isn't always so instinctive to spell in the moment, she is the most common athlete who isn't referred to by her last name on message boards.
It's hard to believe, but I was 10 at the time. I remember watching this magical sporting on the television in the summer. I was completely hooked. My family watched sometimes, but I was glued. I discovered my love for track, and one of my best memories was watching Wottle's kick and Jim McKay's call.
eldanielfire wrote: I cheered for ages when she won and had a tear in my eye considering the battle she had to get there and the mistakes she made that meant she was seen as something she wasn't.
Eldanielfire, thanks for your explanation concerning TBO. Could you perhaps also elaborate on your above comment.
Maybe most here, especially Britons, get what you mean, but I am less enlightened. The only thing I know that she had a doping suspension and was given a lifetime ban by the British federation, which was cancelled. But how was she seen as something she wasn't?
Basically the 3 strikes testing rule just means you give out where you will be every day. Some athletes clocked that they will only report where they will be in the morning between 6am and 9am before they leave for work or training etc so they don't have to worry about it. Ohuruogu gave details of where she would be every day, for most of the day and didn't seem to be educated to play the game like other athletes. One day she turns up for training at her usual place but finds it's booked out for a school and she hadn't been told. She drives to the her other place of training but forgets to send the update to the drug testers ho choose then to surprise her with a test. They turn-up and find she isn't there, ring her and she points out what has happened, which the drug testers can see, only she is way to far away from them to turn up in the one hour time frame they give her. They refuse to to accomodate the fact her schedule was altered by factors not under her control they deem it as avoidance too often and she is banned.
Only the whole thing is initally reported without most of the details and Chrissue O is massive national news for being a drug cheat. She taks a drug test within hours of missing it anyway to prove she isn't on drugs but the details are basically lost in headlines.
She accepts her ban for falling foul of the rules but her name is mud. When she returns she is an easy victim for people to be self-righteous despite the fact it was accepted she pretty certainly proved she hadn't done drugs, the point of the tests. Some people point out that the athletics organisation so disornagised they can let one of the training facilities of their top track medal prospect be booked out by a school without informing the athlete putting them in a more vulnerable position with the testers. She comes back, wins the world championships in dramatic fashion attacting big headlines as well and fights the life ban she has for the Olympics which is the opportunity for more inaccuarte bad headlines. Eventually her ban is overruled, some athletes speak up for her saying how her mistake could be made by anybody though loads of people still call her a cheat and she arrives under Beijing and under a cloud, unpopular and a tons of questions for why she is there for a young nieve athlete. So you can imagine the sort of pressure she was under when she won that gold.
She missed 3 tests, the 3rd before she had even been informed of the 2nd and testers NEVER call to inform that they have arrived, it was someone else at the track who called her. You have to give 1 hour a day when you will be in a specific place she had put the track instead of early morning at home because she lived with her parents and young siblings.
There is no excuse for missing 3 tests BUT UKA had done an appalling job of explaining the new rules to the athletes, many others including MLF and Becky Lynn were on 2. MLF because his door bell was broken and he didn't know they were at the door !!
Having said all of that, there she was fully culpable for missing tests and the ban was appropriate but there is a MASSIVE difference between missing tests you are totally unaware of and failing or avoiding them. It was very unfortunate that she became the high profile test case that has meant the NO other UK athlete has missed 3 tests in the last 7 years. If it happened to anyone now i would have VERY little sympathy.
mump boy wrote:This isn't wholly accurate, she missed 3 tests, the 3rd before she had even been informed of the 2nd and testers NEVER call to inform that they have arrived, it was someone else at the track who called her. TBO had put the track instead of early morning at home because she lived with her parents and young siblings.
There is no excuse for missing 3 tests BUT UKA had done an appalling job of explaining the new rules to the athletes, many others including MLF and Becky Lynn were on 2. MLF because his door bell was broken and he didn't know they were at the door !!
Having said all of that there she was fully culpable for missing tests and the ban was appropriate but there is a MASSIVE difference between missing tests you are totally unaware of and failing of avoiding them. It was very unfortunate that she became the high profile test case that has meant the NO other UK athlete has missed 3 tests in the last 7 years. If it happened again now i would have VERY little sympathy.
Thanks for filling in those details, I was rambling on from memory. I remember being outraged that she had never been informed of the 2nd test and the sheer idiotitic organiastion of athletes training and the education they got on how rules work. I think if somebody misses a test they should be informed on the day if possible that they have missed one. And yes I simply wouldn't be sympathetic to anybody if it happened today, the educaton and coordination is much better as a result.
Last edited by eldanielfire on Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Olli wrote:So, now I guess Ohuruogu is called TBO. Could you please finally tell me why.
It means 'The Big O'. I only learned this a couple of days ago. I guess it's partly as her surname isn't always so instinctive to spell in the moment, she is the most common athlete who isn't referred to by her last name on message boards.
Firstly it's because no one can spell her name properly but it also refers to her ability to rise to the Big occasion.
lonewolf wrote:I was not familiar with TBO's testing ordeal. I strikes me as mindless bureauracy run amok.
It wasn't. I actually fully support the system. It just hadn't been explained to the athletes properly. As I understand it the reason they are not contacted and given the chance to return is that during that time they would have the opportunity to switch urine or one of the other ways athletes get around tests. I think that in the US a phone call if made and if they return in time then it isn't counted as a missed test. Our system is much stricter but had no flexibility despite the fact that athletes clearly didn't understand it.
The British media went to town in typical fashion gatting all their facts wrong and treating her like a full blown Marion Jones. They didn't bother to report fact like one of the tests she missed because she was at a UKA photoshoot. It's not as if the governing body couldn't verify her attendance.
They also took place over the course of 9 months with numerous passed tests in between. She rightly served her sentence but the way the whole thing was reported in the UK was disgraceful and she of course will be forever labelled a drug cheat when there is no evidence she was anything of the sort.
I think so many of us UK fans are particularly supportive of her because of the way she was treated at the time especially as some of the blame should have gone to the system which was not implemented well at all. Instead she was just left to fend for herself and did a spectacularly terrible job of making her case.
Hicham 1500 (my #15) ... One of the most exciting homestretch battles in memory. With the disappointments of 96 and 00 fresh in his mind, and with the recent loss to Lagat in Zurich, would El G tighten up? NO WAY!!! He stayed focused, with that amazing stride of his, and nailed down the missing gold in majestic fashion. Now, having said that, I was rooting for Lagat almost as much as for El G. They are both among the classiest and most intensely competitive middle distance runners ever. A photo finish would have been perfect.
Flo Jo 200 (my #4) ... Unbelievable! Power, quickness, turnover, grace. Coming off the turn, I was thinking; Well she's doing ok. But the final, especially the last 50 ... WOW!!! That's when I turned to my family and said something along the lines of, DID YOU SEE THAT?!?! If it had been in the internet era, the video of the race would have had a bajillion visits in the next day.
Daisy wrote:200m and Ceremony? Is that Smith, Norman and Carlos? .
Yes it is, i've clarified now
I've combined 200m and medal ceremony as they go hand in hand, despite the 200m being a standout it gets added kudos because of what happened after
The medal stand was my No1 and how so many people can have ignored it totally is beyond me. It's not only the best Olympic moments it's one of the best moments full stop of the 20th century.
The fact that i met Tommie Smith and John Carlos last year and Mr Smith signed a poster of this moment, to me makes it even better
At the end I got into a bidding war with a tv weather girl but but there was not a hope in hell i wasn't getting my hands on it. It's framed on the wall next to my bed and is my favourite thing in the world, it makes me cry
he signed it to me, it says
'Faith, Tommie Smith Mexico City, 1968'
I've also got these, just look at how totally maze they are, they're signed and they have black power fists all over them
jazz, can I share a jazzcyclist/John Carlos moment? Last summer at the OT some of us were sitting outside the Wild Duck having a beer and burgers when gh pointed to three trim, older-ish salt-and-pepper looking guys standing across the way and said "There's Carlos" (or maybe it was "There's 'Los"). In an instant, jazz was focused on 'Los like a extremely well-trained hunting dog on the point. I even have a (slightly blurry) photo of jazz in that moment, right before he went to get HIS camera and go over to meet the man and get a few pics. Truly one of his heroes, as he mentioned in another thread last year. Can't remember who the other two gentlemen were....former national HS HJ record holder?
PS Has the image uploading function here ever been reactivated?
mump boy wrote:The medal stand was my No1 and how so many people can have ignored it totally is beyond me.
Maybe most voters are just too young to have experienced this. This applies to me, who was four at the time.
Moreover, I think I recall we were encouraged to send our lists even if we do not have time to consider them so carefully. So what I did was mostly collecting moments that popped into my mind from those Olympics I had enjoyed live (though I added a couple of earlier moments that seemed especially impressive sportwise, such as Bikila and Nurmi).
