7 Unforgettable Photos From the Olympics
While most Olympic hopefuls spend years training in relative anonymity, the atmosphere changes considerably once the Games begin and the globe’s attention turns to this multinational sporting extravaganza. And with plenty of media around to document the proceedings for numerous publications and a massive TV audience, it’s inevitable that cameras capture the participants during moments of triumph, anguish, and everything in between.
Here are seven of the most memorable images to emerge from more than a century of world-class athletes giving it their all at the modern Olympic Games.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos Salute Black Power (1968)
As much as the Olympics are meant to be a time to set aside political discontent in the spirit of international competition, such allowances are not always on the agenda for participants. They certainly weren’t for U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who celebrated their respective 200-meter gold and bronze medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City by raising their fists on the podium in a gesture of Black Power.
The display wasn’t well received by the International Olympic Committee, and the two athletes were subsequently suspended from the U.S. team. Smith in particular suffered major career repercussions, as he was denied the chance to participate and defend his gold medal at the 1972 Olympics. Nevertheless, both stood by the salute that showcased their solidarity with fellow Black Americans and provided one of the most indelible moments in Olympic history.
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Nadia Comăneci Showcases Her Perfect Form (1976)
Despite her successes at the 1975 European Championships, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci was so thoroughly dominant at the 1976 Montreal Games that even the scoreboard operators were caught unprepared. On the very first day of the team competition, the 14-year-old delivered a flawless routine that resulted in the first perfect 10 awarded in Olympic gymnastic competition — only, the scoreboards weren’t capable of showing four digits (10.00), so they instead flashed the comically low score of 1.00.
Both the scorers and other gymnasts quickly realized they needed to up their game, as the graceful Comăneci went on to earn six more perfect scores for her performances en route to winning three gold medals in Montreal.
The U.S. Men’s Hockey Team Celebrates the “Miracle on Ice” (1980)
Few believed that the U.S. men’s hockey team, composed largely of college players, stood a chance against the mighty USSR juggernaut in the 1980 Winter Olympics. The Soviets, after all, were returning seven players from the 1976 gold-medal-winning squad, and had recently annihilated the U.S. by a score of 10-3 in an exhibition game.
But the scrappy Americans pulled ahead in their medal-round match with two quick goals in the final period, before holding on for the 4-3 win to set off pandemonium among the decidedly partisan crowd at Lake Placid, New York. What’s often forgotten is that this wasn’t the final game; the Americans did take the gold a few days later with a 4-2 win over Finland, but the real prize for the players and fans came with the ultimate underdog win immortalized as the “Miracle on Ice.”
Greg Louganis Gets Too Close to the Diving Board (1988)
Competing in the preliminary round of the 3-meter springboard event in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, U.S. athlete Greg Louganis encountered every diver’s worst nightmare when a botched somersault led to him slamming his head against the board.
Despite sustaining a concussion and a nasty gash, a stitched-up Louganis returned to the competition 35 minutes later to ace another dive and advance from the preliminaries. Louganis then shrugged off the scary incident to earn a gold medal in the event the following day, and he later claimed another gold in the 10-meter platform to close out his Olympic career in style.
Kerri Strug Is Carried by Her Coach (1996)
After the U.S. women’s gymnastics team frittered away a once-commanding lead at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, things took a turn for the worse when Kerri Strug flubbed a vault landing and, she later recalled, heard something snap in her left ankle. Thinking she still needed to complete a solid turn to carry the U.S. to gold, Strug managed to charge down the runway, flip over the vault, and stick the landing on one good foot.
It turned out the Americans would have won the event even without Strug’s heroics, and coach Béla Károlyi later came under heat for urging his charge to continue on what turned out to be a badly sprained ankle. Nevertheless, the picture of Károlyi carrying the tiny, injured gymnast to the podium has stood as a defining image of the 1996 Games, and an athlete’s willingness to lay her body on the line for Olympic glory.
Usain Bolt Looks Back at the Pack (2016)
As much as sporting fans love to watch David upset Goliath, it’s also fun to watch generational talents demonstrate their transcendent abilities by repeatedly overwhelming the competition. Such was the case with Jamaican sprinter extraordinaire Usain Bolt, who blazed to eight gold medals and set a slew of world records over the course of his unparalleled career. Bolt himself couldn’t resist sneaking a peek at his challengers during the 100-meter semifinal of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before adding to his accolades as the first man to win sprinting’s marquee event in three successive Olympics.
Jesse Owens and Luz Long Share a Bond (1936)
During the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a spectacle that Adolf Hitler had hoped would showcase the “supremacy” of Germany’s Aryan athletes, the Black U.S. track-and-field star Jesse Owens and his German competitor Luz Long formed an unlikely friendship in the face of racial prejudice. While the Berlin Games are largely remembered for Owens upstaging Hitler by winning four gold medals, they’re also remembered for the genuine bond shown between would-be adversaries Owens and Long. When Owens bested Long to win gold in the long jump, his German rival joined him to celebrate. The pair walked arm in arm around the Olympic stadium smiling, displaying sportsmanship and mutual respect in front of thousands of spectators in Nazi Germany.
