*these are my top moments so I'm not including the larger accomplishment of Phelps winning 8 total gold medals...seriously its hard to even comprehend that one.
(10) Since the rest of the list is going to be all United States accomplishments I'll start off by splitting number 10 in half with my two best non-US performances that I saw.
a) Jamaica's Usain Bolt in the 100 and 200 meter sprints. I've never seen someone win the 100 m by such a large margin in the Olympics. It was amazing and I was really glad to see less show boating in the 200 m after he got some grief about the way he finished the 100 m sprint.
b) China's Yang Wei in gymnastics did some really amazing stuff. The best was what he did on the rings...impressive.
(9) The US men's indoor volleyball team winning gold against the favored Brazil. This was special since they started the Olympics without their head coach as he was taking time off after his father-in-law was murdered in Beijing.
(8) Jonathan Horton was such a great team leader that it was really great to see him win silver in the high bar (and just missed the gold...the crowd seemed like they thought he deserved the gold after the score was posted). He added a bunch of additional moves to his routine to try and improve his start value (something the announcers said usually ends in disaster) and performed it perfectly.
(7) The US men's basketball winning the gold medal once again...sure everyone expected it, but that doesn't take away from the accomplishment. Plus after Athens we needed redemption because that was an embarrassment...it isn't embarrassing to lose but to not put forth the best you have in the Olympics is. So I'm proud of not only their accomplishment but also how they carried themselves this year.
(6) Shawn Johnson winning the gold medal in the final event for the women's gymnastics, the balance beam. She seemed to have such a good attitude and was so good that it was really nice to see her finally get a gold medal...she is just a little ball of muscle.
(5) Nastia Liukin winning the women's overall individual gold medal...her floor routine was so great that she left no room for doubt about who deserved it.
(4) Beach Volleyball - I'm lumping the men's and women's gold winning performances together...just make room on the list. Both May-Treanor/Walsh and Dalhauser/Rogers were great. Best May/Walsh moment was Walsh's final kill and their celebration and Dalhauser/Rogers would be in the third set for the gold when Dalhauser took over the match.
(3) Michael Phelps tying Spitz with "the touch" in the men's 100 meter butterfly. Everyone watching was rather confident that he had won silver, but to everyone's amazement he won by 0.01 seconds. I was actually thinking there was a mistake and that Phelps wasn't going to get the medal after a review, but you watch the video and sure enough Phelps' hands just shoot in there at the last moment to touch the wall.
(2) Alexander 'Sasha' Artemev was only on the men's gymnastics team as an alternate, but man he had an amazing moment. After having his two teammates do quite poor on the pommel horse they were in danger of missing out on the men's team bronze medal. Sasha got up and did an amazing routine that had me applauding at home by myself.
(1) Jason Lezak swimming faster then he had ever swam before in the men's 4x100 meter relay to beat out the French who had a commanding lead with less than half the pool length to go and keep Phelps' hope of 8 gold medals alive. This race had me not only interested in the Olympics but addicted to it...how could I risk missing a race like this one.
6 comments:
Yup, you have provided solid evidence to prove that you watched a lot of Olympics.
Great list! I absolutely agree with your ratings and comments... probably means that I, too, was totally into the games this year... and I was!
Great list, B!!
There were so many great moments for the U.S. as there should be after winning the most medals overall. Yet, here are other memorable U.S. moments - I guess, you can call it "honorable mention." :o)
Natalie Coughlin winning six medals, making her the first American female athlete to do so. With her five medals in the 2004 Athens Games, she now has 11. Of course, she was overshadowed by some swimmer named Phelps.
Women's soccer team winning gold - after losing its top player, Abby Wambach, to a broken leg, few gave the U.S. any chance of receiving any medal, let alone gold. But the soccer team went out and won it. Redemption for goalie Hope Solo, who clashed with the former head coach and publicly criticized goalie Briana Scurry during the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Rebecca Soni winning the 200M breaststroke, defeating heavily favored Australian swimmer Leisel Jones. The fact that Soni was not expected to win the gold in this event and did, anyway, made this a memorable moment.
41-year old Dara Torres winning three silver medals. When she participated in the '84 Games, very few of today's swimmers were even born.
Women's 4x400M relay in track and field: Sanya Richards coming from behind to enable the U.S. to edge Russia.
Women's basketball winning the gold once again. Lisa Leslie has won gold in FOUR Olympics ('96, '00, '04, and '08).
I agree with mike about Natalie and the women's soccer team.. it makes me sad that soccer isn't more valued in the US, even though in know why it's not. Soccer is such an intense sport!
Maybe they need a new PR person...
wait.. i think they have pretty good PR..
Great additions Michael...I feel like Torres, Soni, and Coughlin should be added to my top ten some how, but there are just so few spots and so many great moments.
The women's soccer I can't actually add to the list because I didn't get to see any of it (my list was moments I got to see), though its a great story/moment.
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