(EDITOR’S NOTE
: A series by Times News writer Rich Strack will recall his favorite moments in sports history. Throughout the upcoming weeks, Strack will offer his thoughts about different sports. The Summer Olympics are today’s topic)
By Rich Strack
In this difficult time of a health crisis, the matter of a sports competition that brings so much recreational joy to millions of Americans has been rightfully postponed.
Every level - from the professional and college ranks down to high school spring sports - will have empty stadiums, ball fields, and tracks for the foreseeable future. Sports may not be live for a while. but from many years of devotion to athletic competition, some of the greatest events continue to play on in my memory rewind.
So sit back and let me distract you from public concerns for just a moment with Part Six of a series of the greatest sports events that will remain forever in my personal Hall of Fame.
Today I give you the best Summer Olympic achievements of my lifetime.
1992 Barcelona Games
400 meters
Not always does one of the greatest sports achievements result in a victory. Case in point: Derek Redmond was Great Britain’s 400 meters record holder and was a favorite to win a medal in Barcelona. Redmond had won his quarterfinal race. But in the semifinals, his Olympic dream turned into a nightmare. Redmond got off the block quickly and was in good position heading into the final lap, but as the world watched, he screamed and grabbed his back leg.
Suffering what was later diagnosed as a torn hamstring, Redmond hobbled twice, then fell to the track. He pulled himself back up to his feet and with his face wincing from the brutal pain, continued to hobble around the final lap.
With about a quarter of a lap to go, a man broke through the security line at the edge of the track and hurried over to the stumbling runner. The man was Redmond’s father, who helped his son cross the finish line. The thousands of spectators stood and applauded Redmond as he had shown incredible courage and determination to finish the race.
The irony here is incredible. Because his father helped him finish the race, Redmond was technically disqualified and therefore, the Olympic record says “Did not finish the race” next to his name.
2000 Sydney Games
Greco-Roman heavyweight wrestling
Everybody loves an underdog, and there was no bigger one than USA’s Rulan Gardner in the Olympic wrestling finals. His opponent was Russia’s Aleksandra Karelin, who had not lost a match in 15 years and had not given up a single point to an opponent in six years. In addition to Gardner’s daunting task in the gold medal final, the Wyoming, Pennsylvania native had lost to Karelin by a score of 6-0 in the 1997 World Championships.
Here is how wrestling writer Alex Steen’s described what he called “The Greatest Upset of the Century.”
“Just over one minute into the match, Gardner is put down for passivity. This is when it should have all gone wrong for him. Karelin is still fresh and his reverse lift series is so difficult to defend. Twice Rulon leaves the mat and looks to be in trouble, but both times he is able to unbalance Karelin and prevent the throw. He survives the first trip underneath, but there will be more.
“After a scoreless first period, the two wrestlers began the second in the clinch. Karelin won the flip and got to lock first. It is clear on the video that Gardner’s 54-inch chest makes it difficult for Karelin to lock around him, but it also makes for a tight lock. Gardner, on the other hand, has a loose lock that slides around easily. This is key as the period begins and Gardner has trouble keeping his lock around Karelin’s chest. It keeps sliding up around Karelin’s neck and head. Just as it looks like Gardner’s lock will come completely off Karelin, the impossible happens as Karelin loses his grip.
“It happened so quickly, and Karelin got his lock back without much delay, that there is confusion among the officials as to what the call should be. They go to a video review as the arena holds its breath. When they finally - correctly - award Gardner a point it is a huge moment, but the match is not over. Karelin, knowing he must score now, is relentless in trying to push Gardner’s head down or gain a lock around his giant chest. Karelin’s efforts are not fruitful,?but earn him two more passivity calls against Gardner, one in the second period and one in the overtime forced when neither wrestler scored three points in regulation. Neither time is Karelin able to come as close to throwing Gardner as he did in the first period.”
“With the score 1-0 and with five seconds to go, Karelin walks off the mat knowing he is beaten. The “Russian Bear,” considered to be the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time, conceded the gold medal triumph to Gardner.
1984 Los Angeles Games
Women’s marathon
A former Boston marathon winner who began distance running after she broke her leg in a skiing accident, American Joan Benoit had more adversity to overcome. Seventeen days before the Olympic marathon trials, Benoit severely injured her knee while on a training run. Following arthroscopic surgery, she won the trials and qualified for the first-ever women’s Olympic marathon.
During the early stages of the race, Benoit felt pinched in by the number of other runners, but then made her move as her opponents slowed for grabs of water during the excessively hot day.
“When the first water station came up, I was darned if I was going to get into a crowd again just for a drink, so I skipped it,” she said.
Benoit ran out of the tunnel of the stadium to a standing ovation from the crowd. She won the gold medal, finishing several hundred meters ahead of her nearest competitor.
Chronic injuries set Benoit back, but in 2003, at the age of 46, she won a Maine half-marathon running against women half her age and went on to defeat all but six of the men.
Final thoughts
An athletic display of courage does not always result in victory, but on that day in Barcelona, when Redmond didn’t win a medal, he won the hearts of millions of people around the world. And let the record be corrected to show, he did finish!
Benoit was not only a role model for female athletes, but for everyone because she refused to let injuries keep her from excellence.
Gardner’s story is super-extraordinary, and not just because his victory was in the Olympics. Karelin, the man he defeated, would finish his wrestling career with an astounding 887-2 record. Gardner proved to the world the best thing about athletic competition is that on any given day, a heavy underdog can rise up against unimaginable odds and defeat the favorite. Arguably, Gardner pulled off the biggest upset in Summer Olympic history.
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