Legends of Olympic Games - 1976 to 1988
TOKYO (AFP) — The 32nd Summer Olympics finally start on July 23 in Tokyo after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Here is AFP Sport’s set of five legends of the Games - 1976 to 1988.
‘Perfect’ Comaneci
Forty-five years ago in Montreal, the 14-year-old Romanian gymnast was judged to have achieved ‘perfection’ seven times.
Comaneci, the first perfect 10.00 scorer in Olympic gymnastics, scored 10 four times on the uneven bars and three times on the beam as she won gold in both and the allround title. Two further gold medals followed at the Moscow Games.
‘Great’ Greg Louganis
The American won two golds at Los Angeles in 1984 and successfully defended both at Seoul, despite smashing his head on a springboard.
The enduring image is of Louganis painfully hitting the back of his head during a reverse two-anda-half somersault in pike in the preliminary rounds at Seoul — the stuff of nightmares for divers.
But with his wound stitched up Louganis retained his title, cementing his place in Olympic lore.
‘Unbeatable’ Edwin Moses
Rarely has an athlete exerted such sustained dominance as American 400m hurdler Moses, who won 122 consecutive races from 1977 to 1987, picked up two Olympic gold medals and set four world records.
When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Moses said: “As the guy nobody could beat.”
His 1983 world record of 47.02sec was broken by current holder Kevin Young’s 46.78 at the Barcelona Olympics and to this day only four athletes have ever dipped under Moses’s best, set 38 years ago.
‘King’ Daley Thompson
Thompson was studying at boarding school when his father was shot dead in a street argument, but he overcame the tragedy to become the most celebrated decathlete in history, winning two Olympic golds and setting four world records.
Thompson’s athletic achievements are not in doubt: he was undefeated in all competitions between 1979 and 1987, and he is the only decathlete to hold the world, Olympic, Commonwealth and European titles at the same
time. “All I ever wanted to be was the best. I don’t enjoy fame,” he told the Independent in 2008.
‘Heir to Owens’ Carl Lewis
Lewis stole the show at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, when he matched Jesse Owens’ achievement of winning four gold medals in the 100m, the 200m, the long jump and the 4x100m relay.
In 1988, Lewis gained a second gold medal in the 100m, successfully
defended his long jump gold and picked up a silver in the 200m.
In 1996, a 35-year-old Lewis summoned up one last golden leap to win a fourth long jump in Atlanta, taking his career haul to nine Olympic titles.
Lewis was named male athlete of the century by the IAAF in 1999 and sportsman of the century by the International Olympic Committee. But Lewis was never universally popular, his aloof attitude rankling with rivals and spectators.