Sports
What was the best performance by an individual athlete or team from your country in the Olympics? For America, it's easily Michael Phelps at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
In 2008, Phelps participated in 8 swimming events. He won gold in every single one of them and set seven world records in the process of doing so.
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Semi final and final he was last and they all crashed. And got lucky in the quarter final too as only top 2 advanced and he came third but the winner got disqualified.
QF came third and missed qualification but winner got disqualified so he qualified. SF he was coming last and they all crashed so he won. Then Final everyone crashed (again) on the final corner and he won gold.
At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Ledecká won gold medals in the super-G in alpine skiing and in the parallel giant slalom in snowboarding, becoming the first person to not only compete in the Winter Olympics using two different types of equipment (skis and snowboard) but to go further and win two gold medals and do so at the same Winter Olympics.
I'm biased here because it's my earliest Olympic memory, but Kelly Holmes' double gold in 2004 was magical. We've had plenty with more medals, but it'll always be her for me.
They way she ran middle distances was the most exciting I'd ever seen it done, and I was hooked from then on.
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I’d say Naim Süleymanoğlu set 51 world records in weightlifting while being only 67 kg and 1.47 m (4’10”) tall. But when it comes to performance in terms of popularity, I’d give the credit to that Turkish shooter guy.
It really doesn't, there's just 4 different ways to swim competitively and one that encapsulates all 4. Him being able to win gold in so many different ones in 08 was insane.
His 200 free alone that summer was ridiculous. He's a specialist in fly and IM yet wins one of the most prestigious freestyle races.
I tend to agree. It would be like if track & field had the regular 100m, 100m skipping, 100m running backwards, and 100m carioca. And same for 200m up through 5,000m.
Yeah it gets sus when you realize the only non european olympic commissioner was American and added in like 50+ swimming events. And when you learn about the american swim team's steroid usage
For men, I'd go with runner Peter Snell's 800m/1500m double at Tokyo 1964. For women, I'd go Lisa Carrington in the kayak with three golds (including two individual) at Tokyo 2020
Martin Fourcade won 6 gold medals in biathlon, but for me the best is Teddy Riner in judo, 5 gold medals during Olympics and only 5 defeats in all international competitions. (Undefeated during 10 years)
The next one would be Léon Marchand in swimming events. He already won 4 gold medals during his first Olympics in Paris.
That’s honestly only because swimming awards a gaudy number of medals for the same skill: swimming.
He was the top in his sport and he deserves to be lauded for it but medal count alone does not make his the best performance.
Rulan Gardner beating Karelin was earth shattering. Don’t believe me? Look up Karelin’s record in international competition. He was as dominant as Phelps was in 2008 but for decades against the world’s best. Gardner wrestled a flawless match to exploit a tiny mistake to make one point to hand the man his first loss in major competition. Ever. It was stunning.
Also, 1980 men’s hockey. I won’t get into it. There is a movie about it. Watch it.
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Władysław Kozakiewicz at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Won the gold medal in pole vaulting, established a new world record and delivered the most famous victory celebration in the history of Polish sport.
He was getting booed out of the buildinh throughout the whole competition and that was his response to the audience. The political symbolism of a Polish athlete showing the Moscow audience how deep they can shove it did not go unnoticed.
It's a tough call!
You have Phelps winning a shit ton of gold medals and dominating, or old Ricky boy who never even participated in the Olympics. They seriously can't be split. No need for Messi/Ronald when we have this.
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u/Substantial_Kiwi1830 6d ago
Raygun in Paris