Greatest Single Event Athletic Event

[Mmgord77]

What is the greatest single athletic event, or feat, to you?

I'm listening to discussion on The Sports Animal, and they are saying Bolt's 100 is the single greatest feat ever.

I'm starting another thread about Greatest Athletic accomplishment, which is where Phelps 8 medal discussion comes up. This one is just for a single event (race, game, match, etc.).

[PawneeSports]

Usain Bolt...U.S.A. in Bolt.

A man 6'5" and he let up at the end!

What a feat!

[elk3730]

1. 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid - USA defeats Finland for the Gold Medal in Hockey. Days earlier, the US knocked off the favorite USSR team in a come from behind victory. Soviet team was composed of professional hockey players. USA had all college players. The medal awards presentation was GREAT!

2. 1983 NCAA Basketball Championship - NC State beats Houston (Clyde Drexler & Oaljuwon) in last second shot/dunk. Houston was rank #1 and everybody thought they were unbeatable. Coach Valvano ran around the court like he was in shock. FANTASTIC!

3. 2008 Super Bowl - You've got to admit, this was probably one of the best Super Bowls, ever. The Patriots were undefeated and heavily favored. The Giants had won five straight games on the road. The 4 down miracle catch by Tyree was one of the most exciting plays in football, last year.

[JimPat]

Bobby Thomson's 1951 playoff homer to beat the Dodgers!:clap: :clap: :clap:

[DusterDad]

On an individual basis and prior to this year, I would have thought of Mark Spitz for what he did. I saw his performance live as I did the latest swimming phenom. So, I guess it goes without saying that I believe Phelps should be nominated too. However, in my book, the greatest single athletic event would be the collegiate US Hockey Team's win over the Russian Professionals. In that era, during the Cold War, when the world recognized the Marxist country for what it is, we heard cheers from the world. Kind of freaky, considering we are hearing cheers from abroad in these Olympic Games, too. ;)

[Mmgord77]

The greatest athletic event, in my book, was Michael Johnson's 200m record in 96. He would still hold the 100m record, twice!!!! He ran a 19.3 200m!!!! To put that in perspective, the 100m that Bolt ran was still slower than the halves of Johnson's 200m (yes, I know Bolt let up some). The next closest 200m ever ran is held by Gay at 19.6... that's .3 second slower, and it's been 12 years and no one's close. I remember watching it thinking "Wow! He's running so fast...", then they showed his splits and it was ahead of the WR. He ran his last 100m in 9.31!!! They said he was running between 33 - 35 mph. Bolt was running 29 - 31 mph.

That to me, was the biggest. Knowing what it meant to the country and world, I may put the Hockey team and Jesse Owen's gold in front of Adolf Hitler as 1a and 1b.

[FR Turbo]

Wow! I just watched Usain Bolt run the 200 and set a new world record with a time of 19.30. Apparently, Michael Johnson's time was 19.32. Amazing.

[elk3730]

And, he even ran into a head wind. The man is incredible! I didn't thing he would beat M. Johnson. record. Unreal :eek:

[Mmgord77]

I will now give it up to Bolt. I didn't think anyone would break Johnson's record for a long time. There still have only been two times under 19.6 ever... 19.32 and now 19.3. That's amazing!!!

I really enjoyed seeing him press hard to make it to the line. He really tried and deserved what he earned... Nice gold and nicer WR.

[Clean Green]

1. 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid - USA defeats Finland for the Gold Medal in Hockey. Days earlier, the US knocked off the favorite USSR team in a come from behind victory. Soviet team was composed of professional hockey players. USA had all college players. The medal awards presentation was GREAT!

2. 1983 NCAA Basketball Championship - NC State beats Houston (Clyde Drexler & Oaljuwon) in last second shot/dunk. Houston was rank #1 and everybody thought they were unbeatable. Coach Valvano ran around the court like he was in shock. FANTASTIC!

3. 2008 Super Bowl - You've got to admit, this was probably one of the best Super Bowls, ever. The Patriots were undefeated and heavily favored. The Giants had won five straight games on the road. The 4 down miracle catch by Tyree was one of the most exciting plays in football, last year.

Yes, nothing tops the miracle on ice. I would rate the 1985 Villanova upset of Georgetown ahead of the NC State v. Houston game. The Giants were pretty miraculous too!

[elk3730]

Yeah, I remember the Villanova - Georgetown game! That was pretty much was a tremendous upset for Villanova. Good one, CG. :clap: