Legends of the Olympic Games
2004-07-22 08:44
Athens - With the 2004 Olympics getting underway in Athens on August 13, take a look at a selection of the legends who have lit up the event down the years.
Abebe Bikila (ETH)
Running barefoot, Bikila of Ethiopia won the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Despite undergoing an appendectomy just over a month before the race, Bikila returned to win the marathon at the Tokyo Games in 1964 in a world record time, this time with shoes and socks. - Picture AFP
Nadia Comaneci (ROM)
Romania's Nadia Comaneci won a total of nine gold medals at the 1976 and 1980 Games, famously becoming the first gymnast in Olympic history to be awarded the perfect score of 10.0 in Montreal.
Judges went on to award Comaneci, who later defected to the United States, the perfect score seven times during the 1976 Games. - Picture AFP
Dawn Fraser (AUS)
Australian Fraser made her mark in the 100m freestyle event, taking gold in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and then in Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964.
In doing so, she became the first woman to defend an Olympic swimming title and the first Olympic swimmer of either sex to win the same event three times.
Fraser also won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay in 1956 and earned silver medals in four other events over the Games in which she competed. - Picture AFP
Michael Johnson (USA)
The American scooped five gold medals in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympics after dominating the 200m and 400m since 1990.
In Barcelona, he won a 4x400m relay gold, and four years later in Atlanta, after winning 54 straight finals at 400m, he won that event and the 200m four days later.
In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Johnson again won the 400m - becoming the first to win the event twice - and also anchored the US 4x400m relay team to victory. - Picture AFP
Aleksandr Karelin (RUS)
Unbeaten in 13 years, Siberian-born Karelin won his first gold in the super heavyweight division of Greco-Roman wrestling in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
He repeated the feat in Barcelona and Atlanta, becoming the first wrestler to win the same weight division three times. In the 2000 Sydney Games, Karelin lost in the final, and walked away with silver.
Olga Korbut (RUS)
Korbut hit the headlines at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where she wowed viewers with a spectacular routine on the uneven parallel bars in the team competition.
The Russian also won golds on the balance beam and for the floor exercise and a silver medal on the uneven bars. In 1976, Korbut was overshadowed by Nadia Comaneci, but still managed to win a gold medal in the team competition and a silver on the balance beam.
Carl Lewis (USA)
Lewis is one of only four Olympic athletes to win nine gold medals and one of only three to win the same individual event four times.
In the 1984 Los Angeles Games, Lewis matched Jesse Owens' achievement of winning four gold medals with victories in the 100m, the 200m, the long jump and the 4x100m relay.
He went on to defend his long jump title three times, in 1988, 1992 and 1996.
In 1988, Lewis gained a second gold medal in the 100m after Ben Johnson was disqualified, and picked up a silver in the 200m. And in 1992, the American won another gold as he anchored the 4x100 relay team to victory. - Picture AFP
Greg Louganis (USA)
Louganis is considered one of the greatest divers of all time, and first came to prominence with a silver in the platform in the 1976 Montreal Games as a 16-year-old.
He missed the 1980 Moscow Games because of the US boycott but returned to take the springboard-platform double in both 1984 and 1988. His springboard victory in Seoul was notable for Louganis qualifying despite striking the board with his head on the next-to-last qualifying dive. - Picture AFP
Edwin Moses (USA)
In the 1976 Montreal Olympics, his first international event, 20-year-old Ed Moses won the 400m hurdles by eight metres, the largest margin of victory in the event's history, also breaking the world record.
Moses, who won 122 consecutive races between 1977-87, missed the 1980 Moscow Games because of the US boycott, but won a second gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and a third in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics at the age of 33. - Picture AFP
Paavo Nurmi (FIN)
Nurmi of Finland is one of only four athletes to win nine gold medals, a tally made all the more impressive for having been achieved in endurance events.
In the 1920 Antwerp Games, Nurmi won silver in the 5 000m, gold in the 10 000m and individual and team gold in the cross-country race within three days.
Four years later in Paris, Nurmi won the 1 500m and the 5 000m two hours later. The Finn went on to win the 10 000m cross-country race and gained another gold in the team cross-country event, and the following day finished first in the 3 000m team race. In 1928, Nurmi completed his Olympic career by winning the 10 000m and earning silver medals in the 5 000m and the steeplechase.
Alfred Oerter (USA)
American discus thrower Al Oerter was the first track and field athlete to win four successive Olympic titles.
Oerter won gold in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968, setting a new Olympic record on each occasion.
Jesse Owens (USA)
Owens assured himself a place in sports history when he won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, thwarting Adolf Hitler's hopes of using the Games to prove his theory of Aryan superiority.
The 22-year-old Afro-American won the 100m, 200m, long jump and was part of the victorious 4x100m team, winning over the Berlin crowd.
Four years after his death due to lung cancer in 1980, Owens had a street named in honour of him in the German city. - Picture AFP
Laszlo Papp (HUN)
After winning the Olympic middleweight title in 1948, Hungary's Laszlo Papp won the light-middleweight crown in 1952 and 1956 to become the first boxer to win three Olympic gold medals.
Steven Redgrave (GBR)
Redgrave is the only rower to win gold medals in five consecutive Olympics.
He was a winning member of the British coxed fours crew at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and won golds in 1988 and 1992 in the coxless pairs.
In 1996, Redgrave and Mathew Pinsent successfully defended their title, and at the age of 38 in 2000, Redgrave returned to Sydney and earned a fifth gold medal, this time as a member of Britain's coxless fours team.
Mark Spitz (USA)
US swimmer Spitz made his name at the 1972 Munich Olympics, winning all seven events he entered and setting a world record in every one.
He also won two relay golds in the 1968 Games in Mexico and his total haul means he is one of only four athletes to earn nine career gold medals. - Picture AFP
Teofilo Stevenson (CUB)
Cuba's Stevenson, hailed as one of the best boxers of his time though he never turned professional, was the first fighter to win the gold medal in the same division three times.
Competing in what is now known as the super-heavyweight division, Jamaican-born Stevenson won his first gold at the 1972 Munich Games, and went on to win two more golds at the 1976 Montreal and 1980 Moscow Games.
Lasse Viren (FIN)
Finland's Viren made his Olympic debut in the 1972 Munich Games, managing to win the 10 000m despite falling during the race and taking gold in the 5 000m 10 days later.
Viren returned to the Montreal Games in 1976 and repeated the long-distance double.- Picture AFP
Johnny Weissmuller (USA)
Before rising to on-screen prominence as Tarzan, Weissmuller starred at the Paris and Amsterdam Olympics in 1924 and 1928.
At a time when the number of swimming events was limited, the American picked up four gold medals, winning the 100m freestyle and being part of the victorious 4x200m relay team in both years.
He also won a bronze medal in the 1924 water polo competition. - Picture AFP
Yasuhiro Yamashita (JPN)
Japan's Yamashita won gold in the open-class judo competition at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He retired a year later after a staggering record of 203 successive victories, including four world championships.
Emil Zatopek (CZE)
Zatopek of what was then Czechoslovakia won the 10 000m at the 1948 London Games, lapping all but two runners in the field. He also picked up a silver in the 5 000m.
At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Zatopek won gold in the 5 000m, 10 000m and marathon, the only runner to have achieved the feat. His wife Dana also picked up a gold in Helsinki in the javelin.
- AFP