Memories and the Olympics

[Alan]

Hi,

Within the next few minutes I shall be joining a few other billion viewers to see the start of the 2008 Olympics. And then I start to reminisce about the Olympics of 1948 that were held in London, the first Games after the second world war. My particular memory is of the marathon that had to be run out of London and back skillfully avoiding the bomb damaged area from the war. There was great excitement at my school because one of the 'old boys' was taking part.

I remember getting on my bike and tearing down to see the race and cheer on the old boy. Whenever I travel down that road (a good deal busier these days) by car from where I live about 20 miles from central London, I pause (traffic permitting, which it often isn't) to look at the spot where I stood and watched. It was a great time and names come flooding back to me like the so called 'Flying Dutch woman' who won several medals having the wonderful name of Fanny Blankers-Cohen, the fastest man on earth Zatopek from Czechoslovakia and the beautiful young swimmer, Cathy Gibson, with whom I fell deeply in love. Somehow we drifted apart but I suppose there was really no future in it as I was only 12 at the time.

Must dash - the show's just starting.

Alan
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[Ralf]

Hi Alan,

The 1984 games are the first Olympics I can remember. I was a little boy back then, and I remember Carl Lewis winning a heap of medals. John Treacy came second in the marathon, and nobody in Ireland ever got to know who won it. Then came the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and Ben Johnson was later found out to be on steroids to an extent that a stallion could have taken pride in. I've gradually lost interest in the games since then because it often seems that the best cheaters can keep their medals.

The games in China will not only be flawed by scores of positive drug tests, but also overshadowed by a regime that only wants to polish up its image. They've disrooted and resettled families to build sports grounds, temporarily stopped production and staunched the traffic flow so that you can actually see the stadiums, and killed and terrorised members of ethnic minorities to minimise their fear of domestic protest.

Maybe one should say "Just relax and concentrate on the sport", but to my liking there is too much fake sportsmanship and hypocrisy in the game(s).

But maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone think the games will have a positive effect on the Chinese people?
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[Prezbucky]

I remember Michael Johnson's dominant 200- and 400-meter wins at the 1996 Atlanta games. If memory serves, he set the world record in both.

And he did it all in golden Nikes.

Other memories:

- Mary Lou Retton's perfect 10 at the LA games

- Kerry Strug (sp?) sticking her vault landing with a sprained ankle... to preserve the team gold medal

- Kathy Freeman

- The long rivalry between Jackie Joyner-Kersey and Heike Drechsler.

- Michael Phelps in 2004, Ian Thorpe in 2000 and Carl Lewis in 1984

- Rulon Gardner beating that unbeatable Russian dude... think his name's Karelin.

- The Zola Budd/Mary Decker fiasco

- Roy Jones Jr getting snubbed in Seoul despite dominating the gold medal fight

- Linford Christie
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[Yankee]

Since I have had a life-long interest in swimming, one of my favorite Olympic memories is the phenomenal achievement of Mark Spitz at the 1972 Olympics. Of course, that was also a year of Olympic tragedy.

The person I'm most interesting in watching this year is Dara Torres -- a 41-year-old swimmer (and mother!) who is competing in the Olympics for the fifth time!

[Ralf]

[Yankee]