Memories, Memories, Memories ….

If you are an ardent sports fan and an amateur sports historian, there are events, performances, actions that stick in your mind.

“Do you remember when the mile run record was broken?”

“Of course I do - doesn’t everyone?” That mentality will be activated by us just before the next British Open, the next World Series, and  especially the next Olympics. 

I shared my love of sports with my brothers and sister. I fondly recall watching the Olympics with them. Here are five of our favorites.

Jesse Owens

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens, United States, won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens competed in the sprints and the long jump and was possibly the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history. I was 10 years old at the time and just learning about the Olympics and the world out there. My three older brothers talked about what was going on behind the scenes at this event.

Jesse Owens is best known for his exceptional performances at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and its significance in the history of that time.  Adolph Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party and dictator of Germany. He was claiming that the Aryan ‘master race’ was the superior race of the world. He attended the Olympics to watch his young athletes win all of the events and he was not happy about watching a black, American athlete beat his best athletes and become the star of the show.

Owens set three world records and tied another at the Big Ten Championships in 1935. He won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic games. He won three individual medals: the 100 meters in 10.30 seconds, the 200 meters in 20.70 seconds, and then the long jump, with a leap of 8.06 meters. His fourth gold came in the 4x100 meter relay, in which he was part of the team that set a new Olympic/world record of 39.80 seconds.       

There was an issue over Jesse qualifying in the long jump when the judge called a take-off board foul on his first trial. There was some concern that all his jumps might be deemed fouls by the officials. Luz Long, a German competitor and runner-up, gave him some advice and stayed with him.  On his third jump, Long set a new Olympic long jump record – a few minutes later Jesse set a new Olympic record. Jesse and Luz became good friends.       

Since, at that time, only amateurs were allowed to compete in college and in the Olympics, Jesse didn’t get rich. What he achieved later in life was his contribution to civil rights issues and the right for equality for all people in the world.

A Ruling to Remember

On  April 7, 1989, at a special congress in Munich, the International Basketball Association (FIBA) delegates voted by a margin of 56 to 13 to allow professional basketball players to participate in its international events, including the World Cup and the Olympics. This became the standard for all Olympics participants. 

Bob Beamon 1968 Olympics, Mexico City 

My brothers and I  had been following the career of  Ralph Boston, United States, and we were pulling for him to win the “broad jump" - that’s what the long jump was called until the 1960s when the women began to compete in the “broad jump” which, of course, needed a change of name.

Usually, new records are a few inches higher, a few seconds shorter, and a few ounces lighter. But what we saw in that event was much greater than any of those. And we saw a lot of slow motion, replays of this attempt. 

Of all the Olympic records, none is as impressive as the one that Bob Beamon, not Ralph Boston,  set Oct. 18, 1968 in Mexico City. All of the current long jumpers were trying to get to the 28 foot mark. Not only did he become the first 28+ foot long jumper that evening; he became the first to pass 28 feet, also.

Jesse Owens had set a world record of 26 feet, 8 1⁄4 inches in 1935 that had held up for 25 years. Before Beamon's leap, the farthest long jump had been 27 feet, 4 3⁄4 inches, by Ter-Ovanesyan, the Soviet Union,  and Ralph Boston. From 1960 to 1967, the record was broken or tied eight times by Boston or Ter-Ovanesyan -- yet it had climbed just 8 1⁄2 inches.

In one jump of 29 feet, 2 1⁄2 inches, Beamon stretched the record by an incredible one foot, 9 3⁄4 inches, almost 2 feet. It was a record Beamon would keep for almost 23 years, until Mike Powell hit 29 feet, 4 inches  on Aug. 30, 1991 in Tokyo.

The commentators spent some time questioning the validity of Beaman’s jump.They were assured that the wind was within the 2 mph limit - there was some talk about the thinner air at the altitude of Mexico City. Regardless of any factor,  weren't the rest of the high jumpers there still jumping less than 28 feet?

Interestingly, Ralph Boston had set a new Olympic record  of 27 feet, 1 1⁄2 inches during the qualifying round.

Nadia Elena Comăneci 1976 Olympics, Montreal, Canada

We became followers of men and women gymnastics during the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada when we joined the rest of the world watching a 14-year-old Romanian gymnast named  Nadia Comăneci. She was a brilliant performer who pushed the limits in every event and kept us watching in awe. We came to know her simply as “Nadia” and we adopted her as our favorite Olympic performer.

She was a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. At the age of 14, Nadia was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games. By the time the 1976 Olympics ended, she had earned seven perfect tens, three gold medals, one bronze medal, one silver medal, and countless world fans.

Four years later at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Nadia earned two more gold medals and two silver medals to bring her Olympic total to nine medals–five gold, three silver, and one bronze. In 1996, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.    

In April 1996, Nadia Comaneci married American Olympic Champion Bart Conner. Conner was a member of the US men's gymnastics team.  At the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, he won two gold medals.

He and Nadia own and operate the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Oklahoma. She is active in  many activities including commercial endorsements for major companies, speaking engagements, and charity events. You will often see them as commentators at College and National gymnastics events.

Richard Douglas Fosbury 1968 Olympics, Mexico City - The Fosbury Flop

It was 1968 and we were watching the high jump event at the 1968 Olympics on our TV set. We expected to see the contestants using the Western Roll and setting a new 7 foot record, but there was this guy doing his jumping backwards; literally backwards; and doing very well.

Richard Fosbury, American high jumper, completely changed the high jump style. His style was different - a little weird and really different. He won a gold medal, changing the high jump event from a “chest- first”  to a "back-first" technique  - now known as the Fosbury Flop.  

Coaches and competitors at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico had serious reservations about the new technique while we spectators were impressed with the look of this new jumping style.

Fosbury ended the first day of competition by clearing each height on his first attempt. The next day while we watched it in color, in slow motion, and with a lot of retakes, he changed the sport forever, jumping 2.24 meters (7 feet 4.25 inches) to break the world/Olympic record and win the Olympic gold medal. Fosbury didn’t make the  Munich 1972 Olympic team, but  many of the leading high jumpers had switched to his jumping style. The Fosbury Flop soon became the only high jump style.

The “Dream Team”

Basketball is the one sport that all five of us liked to watch  - including my sister, Grace.   

The 1992 Olympics were held in Barcelona, Spain.  The United States men's basketball team, nicknamed the "Dream Team", was the first American Olympic team to use professional players. Prior to the 1992 Olympics, only amateurs were eligible for the U.S. Olympic teams, which were composed of collegiate and AAU players.  The players were: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls (We Bulls’ fans liked that), John Stockton and Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz, Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks, Chris Mullin of the Golden State Warriors, David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs, Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers, and Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers. As an acknowledgment to the previous amateur system, the U.S. basketball committee included one collegiate player on the team: Christian Laettner of Duke University.

They defeated their opponents by an average of 44 points. In the final game they won the gold medal, defeating the team from Croatia. The silver medal was the first medal won by Croatia.

The team was collectively inducted into the U. S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2009, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2017.  Three coaches have also been inducted individually into the Naismith Hall of Fame.