Alright guys, it's that time again. For those of you that know me, I am obsessed with the Olympics. "Obsessed" could even be an understatement as a description of my affinity for this event. In honor of this magical time, my next few articles will center around this topic. For this one, I hope to offer some historical knowledge to those of you who don't surf through Wikipedia pages about diving, Nadia Comaneci, Germany... I think you get the picture.
In order to improve your Olympic viewing experience, I've compiled a list of Olympians to look out for during this two weeks. As well as some of their past counterparts that created some shoes to fill...
Michael Phelps
As the most decorated Olympian of all time, I figured there was no other appropriate way to start. Michael Phelps first competed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia; however, his medal streak wouldn't begin for another four years in the Olympic homeland, Greece. Athens was the birthplace of a man who became the best Olympian ever by bringing home eight medals. Beijing 2008 was his Olympics. Michael Phelps won more gold medals than any Olympian in history. He broke Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals that had been held since 1972 (Munich). London was the cherry on top of a great career. Michael Phelps would become the most decorated Olympian ever by winning 22 medals since his debut in Sydney. Michael Phelps almost didn't go to Rio, but his mom, Debbie, wanted to go to Rio, so here they are for (potentially) one more run for glory.
Flashback to Seoul, South Korea in 1988 and you'll find...
Anthony Nesty
You probably thought I was going to write about Mark Spitz, Ian Thorpe, or even Alexander Popov. Not only do I not know as much about those Olympians as I do about Nesty, but Anthony's achievement was one that could easily be compared to Michael's. Suriname is a small South American country of a little more than 500,000 people. Close your eyes and imagine this... Matt Biodi (basically the Michael Phelps of the 80's/90's) going for another gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly. Then, there's this guy from this country that you mistake for Vietnam (who's heard of Suriname?) who is just happy to be there. With nothing to lose, Nesty out-touches Matt Biondi with one extra stroke. Anthony Nesty still holds the only Olympic medals for his country, and one of them gold.
David Boudia
David Boudia did the thing. David Boudia took down a dynasty of Chinese divers that has dominated and continues to dominate diving. Preceding the London games, David won a silver at the World Championships. At the Olympics in 2012, Boudia struck gold, and will attempt to do the same in Rio.
Matthew Mitcham
The reason I'm bringing up the Aussie Matt Mticham is because of his comparable feat, except that his had some more significance. First of all, his Chinese competitor was aiming to give his country a clean-sweep of the diving gold medals. Second of all, in the final dive, Mitcham had to perform a near-perfect dive to win. And a perfect dive he did create, earning 10's from every judge. His score was the highest of any Olympic diving score in history.
Fierce Five, the second
One simply can't choose between one of the five gymnasts competing for the USA. In short, this team is goals. It's a great mixture. You have the two veterans, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, both of whom are gold medalists in their own right aside from the historical team gold. Gabby won the All-Around, continuing the line of American All-Around gold medalists along with Nastia Liukin and Carly Patterson. Then you have the newbies Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian. Simone Biles is the favorite to win just about everything. Words used to describe her include perfect, perfection, "perfectest"... I think you know what I mean. Laurie Hernandez is the baby of the group. She came off strong from the Junior circuit and joined the ranks of the Seniors just in time to qualify for the Olympics. Finally, Madison Kocian is probably the underdog of the team, but don't count her out -- she won gold on uneven bars at the most recent World Championships.
Nadia Comaneci
To say that someone broke barriers, Nadia Comaneci of Romania did just that. At a time (Montreal 1976) when gymnastic scoreboards only had three number slots, Comaneci scored a "1.00" on her uneven bars routine. However, it wasn't a 1, it was a 10, the first perfect 10 in gymnastics. Nowadays, athletes don't score perfect tens -- not because they aren't good enough, but because of a shift in the scoring system. Remember her name, folks. If there is one athlete that should stand out among all of them, it's Nadia Comaneci.
Now, go on. Go search the web for more athletes. Not only because there are too many that have made historical impacts on the biggest stage in the world, but also because my deadline is quickly approaching. Citius. Altius, Fortius.
