The track and field events form the bedrock of the Olympic games since the times in Ancient Greece and has always been part of the program since the modern Olympics came into being in 1896. The stadium is the venue for the most watched events at the Games and the Olympic motto of Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger) is personified by the athletes taking part in various running, jumping and throwing events.
We look at five memorable moments at the Olympics that will always be remembered for years to come.
5) 2008: Usain Bolt wins the 100m gold in record time
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Before the 2008 Olympics, not many knew of the Jamaican sprinter. After the track and field events in Beijing, billions around the world knew the name of the fastest man on the planet, aptly named Bolt.
The 100m has always been the most popular event at the Olympics. It grabs eyeballs and does not allow you to blink lest you miss something in a race that lasts less than 10 seconds.
Bolt qualified for the final with times of 9.92 seconds and 9.85 seconds and settled into lane 4. In the absence of a head or tail wind, Bolt was one of the last competitors off the blocks as the others such as fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell and Richard Thompson from Trinidad and Tobago surged ahead.
Then it happened. 40 metres in, Bolt found his stride, lifted his head up and then burst forth into the lead in a manner never seen before in a 100m race. What was even more remarkable was that his shoelaces were untied and he still won by a margin of 0.2s – a massive lead in the 100m.
Bolt set a new record time of 9.69 seconds in spite of slowing down and celebrating before crossing the finish line. The win even saw scientists try and predict his time had he run full throttle all the way to the finish line.
4) 1968: Bob Beamon breaks the Long Jump record by two feet
If anyone had dominated a sport at his peak, it was USA’s long jumper Bob Beamon. 22 years old at the time, Beamon came into the Mexico Olympics having won 22 of the 23 meets he had competed in previously.
He almost never made it to the final having fouled his first two attempts but scraped through in the end. However, it was in the final that he set a mark that stood for nearly 23 years before it was broken.
With his very first jump in the final, Beamon jumped a distance of 8.90m. The jump was so long that they did not have the equipment to measure such a long jump. It took another 15 minutes before they measured his distance the old school way with tape and when the final result was announced, the world was shocked.
Beamon himself wasn’t sure how far he had jumped as he did not understand metric measurements. When he was told it was 29 feet and 25 inches – two feet farther than the existing world record – Beamon sank to his knees, overwhelmed with emotion.
“You have destroyed this event,” said defending champion Lynn Davies of Great Britain. The mark is still an Olympic record but Mike Powell jumped 8.95m in 1991 to own the world record.
3) 1968: Tommie Smith and John Carlos do the “Black Power salute”
When the 200m race at the 1968 Olympics concluded, nobody knew that the result would have a butterfly effect on both the Olympics and the world. Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos finished first and third while Australia’s Peter Norman finished second to win the silver.
As the US national anthem played out, both Smith and Carlos faced the flags, bowed their heads and raised a hand with a black glove in silent protest. Both athletes were supposed to raise their right hand but Carlos had left his in the Olympic village and it was actually the silver medalist Norman who suggested they wear one glove each. Norman himself empathised with their cause.
The crowd booed the athletes as they left the podium and the IOC took stringent action. Both athletes were suspended and banned from the Olympic Village. USA had initially refused to suspend them but relented after the entire track team were threatened with suspension.
Norman was also handed an unfair deal and Australia did not pick him for the 1972 Olympics even though he technically qualified 13 times. When Norman died in 2006, both Carlos and Smith attended his funeral and were pallbearers.
The image is iconic and became the symbol of black struggle in the US. Smith himself said it wasn’t about ‘Black Power’ but that it was a human rights salute. It would be years before the significance of their protest was realised by the majority of the people as the times changed.
2) 1936: Luz Long helps Jesse Owens win gold in Nazi Germany
The 1930s saw the rise of Nazi Germany led by none other than Adolf Hitler. Their propaganda was built on promoting the Aryan race as a superior race to the rest of the world and those of African descent were simply considered inferior to them.
Owens changed that mindset over the course of a week. He would go on to win four gold medals – the 100m, long jump, 200m and 4x100m. But it is the story behind the long jump gold medal that saw the spirit of competition at the Olympics shine through.
Owens had fouled his first two attempts and needed to jump 7.15m to reach the final. Owens, the world record holder was one jump away from a disappointing exit from the event. That was when Ludwig “Luz” Long, the European record holder, gave him some advice.
Long told Owens that he should jump a few inches before the board so that he could qualify. Owens was well capable of clearing the qualification mark even if he jumped from well behind the board and that’s exactly what he did, jumping with four inches to spare.
“It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler. You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment.” – Owens
In the final, Owens set a new record of 8.06m. Long's silver medal winning effort was only 7.87m. And Long was the first to congratulate Owens on winning the gold medal.
1) 1992: Derek Redmond ‘completes’ 400m in spite of torn hamstring
Britain’s Derek Redmond was one of the favourites for the 400m title at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona but that dream came to a staggering halt in the semi-finals. Although Redmond looked good to qualify for the final, he tore his hamstring around 150m into the race and he collapsed on the track.
Just as medics and stretcher bearers made their way to him, he got back up and started limping down the track in an attempt to finish the race. At first, the crowd couldn’t believe he was attempting to finish the race with his hamstring gone and Redmond in obvious agony. When they realised, they started cheering him on.
As he rounded the curve, a spectator slipped past security and came up to Redmond and lent him his shoulder to support him. It was none other than his father Jim. Despite protests from security personnel, his father shooed them away as they made their way to the finish line. Derek eventually crossed the line and he was already in tears when he did. But the crowd of more than 65,000 watching on got to their feet and gave him a standing ovation.
Redmond never competed again after a surgeon told him his running career was over. However, the moment has gone down in history as one of the most iconic moments that celebrate the spirit of the Olympics.
Not many remember 400m medal winners over the years. But everyone remembers Derek Redmond.
