Good Luck for London 2012!
1896 The States was one of many first 13 international locations to ship an athletic delegation to the Summer season Video games – among the many world’s most high-profile sporting events– on Greek soil. This yr was a key second for the worldwide’s sport.
1896 In Athens, america of America turned the main sports activities nation of the world after ending first in unofficial staff standings within the First Fashionable Olympiad. There, the 1896 U.S. Olympic squad earned a complete of 20 medals: 11 gold, 7 silver, and a pair of bronze. In the meantime, Boston-born James B. Connolly was the primary individual to say a gold medal in Olympic historical past after successful the triple leap in Athens’ Panathinaiko Stadium. Again dwelling in Boston, Mr. Connolly was given a hero’s welcome. Since 1896 -without interruption– America has been famend for producing worldwide champs.
1896 Thomas Burke’s rise to prominence got here in Athens when he was the primary winner of the lads’s 100m in Olympian historical past, making him the world’s quickest sprinter. Mr. Burke was recognized with the rising era of American athletes within the late Eighteen Nineties when he realized his dream of successful the Olympic gold.
1896 What hurdler was the primary American athlete to win an Olympic title? Reply: Thomas Curtis, a Massachusetts Institute of Expertise pupil. He made a time of 17,6 seconds to win the gold within the males’s 110m hurdles in Greece.
1900 With 47 worldwide medals (19 gold, 14 silver, and 14 bronze), the States as soon as once more turned one of many world’s elite sports activities powers within the multi-sport occasion in Paris (France).
1900 Alvin Kraenzlein was within the highlight as he, a born-athlete, led American staff to win 4 golds in Paris: 60m, 110m hurdles, 200m hurdles, and lengthy leap. To organize himself to grow to be an impressive sportsman, america hurdler made his first abroad go to to the UK. Hailing from Milwaukee (Wisconsin), Kraenzlein was the American star within the Video games of the Second Olympiad, adopted by Ray Ewry (3 golds), Margaret Ives Abbot (first feminine in US historical past to seize an Olympian championship), and Irving Baxter (2 golds), amongst different high-profile athletes. However, Kraenzlein’s life has been an inspiration to a number of sports activities individuals in Wisconsin and the States.
1904 St. Louis (MO) was the positioning for the Video games of the Third Olympiad. Unequivocally, the 1904 Olympics have been within the focus of the eye of the world press.
1904 Within the Olympic diving event in Missouri, the Individuals swept the primary three positions.
1904 Pittsburgh-born runner James Lightbody was the winner of the lads’s 800m and 1,500m–He was the primary male to win each these competitions on the identical Olympics. Shortly afterward, he took numerous different main athletic titles, together with the Intercalated Video games in Greece.
1904 The host nation’s staff -made up of 4 stars: Herman T. Glass, Edward Hennig, Anton Heida, George Eyser- claimed first within the gymnastics event on the III Olympiad in St. Louis (MO).
1908 On the IV Summer season Olympics in London (England), the US Olympic staff was ranked second within the medal depend -23 golds, 12 silvers, 12 bronzes-behind solely Britain.
1908 With three wins (800m, 1500m and medley relay), New Jersey’s runner Mel Sheppard had an distinctive yr within the Briton capital of London.
1912 Oklahoma-born Jim Thorpe gained each the decathlon and pentathlon within the Summer season Video games at Stockholm, Sweden. A long time later, many sportswriters and sports activities consultants chosen Thorpe as each “the best soccer participant and male athlete of the primary half of the twentieth Century”.
1912 With three gold medals within the capturing event, New York Metropolis-born Alfred Lane turned America’s most profitable athlete on the V Summer season Olympics on Scandinavian soil.
1912 Two future personalities competed within the Video games in Sweden: Firstly, Avery Brundage in pentathlon-elected President of the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC); the primary U.S. sports activities chief to occupy the put up. Secondly, George S. Patton, Basic throughout World Battle II.
1920 On the Summer season Olympic Video games in Antwerp (Belgium), the States turned undisputed champion when it was first within the medal standings with 95 medals. The U.S. staff had greater than 40 Summer season Olympic Video games Champions.
1920 In Belgium, Duke Kahanamoku earned the lads’s 100m freestyle for the second time in a row. For the previous 4 years, Hawaii’s sporting icon turned the primary islander to overcome the coveted title (Stockholm Video games) and was a national-class swimmer within the States. Previous to 1916, the untapped athlete moved between his dwelling, Hawaii, and frequent swimming occasions within the continental United States, the place his solely aim was to coach to grow to be the world’s quickest swimmer. There, he gained the nationwide trials, capturing tickets for the Summer season Olympics. In addition to being one of the vital excellent swimmers on Earth since 1912, Duke Kahanamoku reintroduced the game of browsing to the western world- he turned it into an important nationwide ardour within the continental U.S. Like Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and the performer Don Ho, his immense private reputation added to Hawaii’s worldwide fame.
1924 Within the Olympics in Paris, France, America’s robust squad was first within the medal depend with 99 – 67 medals greater than Finland (second within the Video games).
1924 The US water polo staff took third place within the worldwide competitors, changing into the primary American squad to be medalist within the Olympiad.
1924 After gaining 4 golds, America’s sportsmen turned champion within the free-style wrestling event within the Video games of the VIII Olympiad in Paris. The winners have been Robin Learn, Russel Vis, John Spellman, and Harry Steele.
1924 America swimmer Albert White shortly established himself because the “undisputed champ” within the Olympian Diving Event in France, successful golds in each springboard and platform diving.
1928 Through the IX Olympiad within the Netherlands, the States was the main nation within the medal depend, incomes 22 international titles -12 greater than Germany.
1928 Pennsylvania’s Olympic ambassador Johnny Weissmuller gained the 100m freestyle for the second time in a row in Amsterdam (Holland/Netherlands). He was one of many prime favorites to win the title. Over a sporting profession that spanned greater than 10 years, he obtained 52 nationwide championships and 5 Olympian golds. Likewise, he set 67 world data within the States and Western Europe. After stepping down as swimmer, he turned a prime film star in Hollywood and co-starred with such outstanding actresses as Brenda Joyce and Maureen O’Sullivan.
1928 Elizabeth Robinson had the excellence of being the primary feminine to win the 100m (monitor & subject) within the IX Summer season Olympics.
1932 The Video games of the X Olympiad have been held in Los Angeles (CA)-for the second time within the historical past of america (St. Louis, 1904).
1932 World-class athletes led the US delegation to win the Los Angeles Video games: 103 medals! -well forward of Italy (36). Amongst Summer season Olympic stars: Jesse Owens (monitor and subject), Jim Bausch (decathlon, athletics), Edward Flynn (boxing), Michael Galitzen (diving)…
1932 The house nation took third place within the Water Polo Championship, incomes a bronze. The native staff gained that distinction by beating Japan and Brazil.
1932 America’s Olympian decathlon champion Jim Bausch obtained the James R. Sullivan Memorial Trophy as the highest Olympic athlete. Few have been stunned when he acquired that award.
1936 Regardless of a troubled relationship with the Germany of Adolf Hitler, Washington dispatched a nationwide contingent to Berlin, dwelling to the XI Video games.
1936 Alabama-born Jesse Owens captured America’s consideration by incomes 4 world titles in Berlin— 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay, in addition to the lengthy leap. Because of this, america sprinter was one of many globe’s most high-profile athletes within the twentieth Century. This man is of nice historic significance for America. Why? His large efficiency got here at a time when there have been fewer black athletes within the international sports activities area, breaking down the limitations of prejudices, and occurred with the political backdrop of Germany’s Nazi regime. Throughout Owens’ days as sprinter and lengthy jumper, he turned an emblem of the battle in opposition to racism.
1936 The U.S. males’s soccer squad didn’t qualify for the second spherical after being eradicated by Italy-the world’s top-ranked staff — however they completed tenth within the Olympic event, forward of Taiwan, Egypt, Hungary, Turkey, Finland, and Luxembourg.
1936 America -a basketball-mad nation– positioned first within the Inaugural males’s basketball championship in Germany, a feat they repeated from 1948 and ’68. The united statesdelegation captured the common trophy by beating Mexico (25-10) within the semis after which Canada (19-8) within the gold-medal match. On their strategy to win the occasion, the North American nation additionally defeated Estonia (52-28) within the second spherical and Philippines (56-23) within the quarter-finals.
1936 Glenn Morris, a local of Simla (Colorado), made headlines around the globe when he obtained the James R. Sullivan Memorial Trophy as the highest Olympic athlete within the States.
1940-1944 The Video games have been cancelled on account of World Battle II.
1948 America acquired 23 golds within the Video games of the 14th Olympiad in London, Nice Britain, successful the unofficial staff championship. Within the meantime, in New York Metropolis, America’s win set off a wave of explosive emotion because it was introduced on nationwide radio.
1948 In the UK, the younger American Bob Mathias, who hails from Tulare (California), started to make a reputation for himself in monitor and subject when he completed first within the decathlon with 7,139 factors.
1948 The US basketball staff claimed first place within the London 1948 Olympic basketball event, incomes the title and permitting they to compete within the subsequent Olympics in Scandinavia.
1948 Surprisingly Porter William led a United States sweep within the males’s 110-meter hurdles.
1948 Unbeaten within the decathlon, Robert Mathias –invariably recognized to his associates as “Bob”— earned the James E. Sullivan Memorial Trophy. He gained a gold medal the XIV Olympiad and people of the XV Olympiad in 1952.
1952 On the Helsinki Video games, america delegation took first place in staff standing by successful 40 international titles.
1952 With 4 trophies, America’s sportsmen completed first within the weightlifting competitors within the fifteenth Summer season Video games within the Finnish capital of Helsinki, defeating the Soviet Union within the medal depend.
1952 Pennsylvania’s runner Horace Ashenfelter was the primary American runner to realize a gold medal within the males’s 3,000m steeplechase in Finland.
1952 The States captured a gold in basketball within the XV Olympics, giving the US squad entry to compete within the upcoming males’s Olympic Video games basketball championship in Australia within the mid-Nineteen Fifties.
1952 Upon successful an Olympic trophy within the males’s javelin throw in Scandinavia, Cy Younger was the primary individual in America’s sporting historical past to obtain that honor.
1955 Waiting for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the US Olympic Committee despatched an necessary delegation (spearheaded by its prime athlete Patricia McCormick) to Pan American Video games within the Mexican metropolis—Amongst whom have been the longer term Olympic winners: Rafer Johnson (decathlon), Parry O’Brien (shot put), Mildred McDaniel (ladies’s excessive leap), Huelet Benner (capturing), and Charles Vince (weightlifting).
1956 Norma Armitage, a fencer, was the flag-bearer for America’s fourteenth Olympian delegation on the sixteenth Olympiad at Melbourne, (Australia).
1956 America staff took first place within the basketball event on the Melbourne Olympics following its spectacular string of triumphs within the 1954 World Championships and 1955 Pan American Sports activities Video games.
1956 Patricia McCormick gained two international titles (her fourth Olympian gold) within the diving championship on the Australia Summer season Video games, changing into a regional hero. Beforehand to her wins in Oceania, she had collected two golds within the Helsinki Olympiad and three ladies’s Pan American titles in 1951 and 1955. Hailing from Seal Seashore (California), she was one of the vital respect feminine divers on the earth sports activities neighborhood within the Nineteen Fifties.
1959 Santa Monica-born Parry O’Brien –who lived his dream of changing into an Olympic champ in 1952 and 1956 — earned the Sullivan award because the nation’s prime newbie athlete.
1960 Within the Video games of the XVII Olympiad in Italy’s capital, Rome, Wilma Rudolph was recognized worldwide by her triumphs in athletics — 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay.
1960 The nationwide staff gained the lads’s basketball event in Rome after shedding to Brazil within the gold-medal match on the 1959 World Championship.
1960 Louisville-born Cassius Marcellus Clay Junior gained the gold medal within the Video games of the Olympiad in Rome-This boxer was a fierce athlete (each newbie {and professional}) in each area he competed, giving a unprecedented instance for America’s sportsmen and ladies. Within the wake of his victory on Italian soil, he turned professional on the age of 18. Afterwards, by the 70s, he was thought to be the best boxer of all time by many worldwide sportswriters. He transformed to Islam, altering his title to Muhammad Ali within the mid-Nineteen Sixties.
1964 On the Summer season Olympic Video games in Tokyo, Japan, the US contingent captured 90 medals – 36 gold, 26 silver, 28 bronze– successful the primary place within the unofficial staff championships.
1964 The non-favorite runner Bob Schul got here in first within the males’s 5,000m (monitor and subject) in Japan, being the primary American to take action because it was included as one of many official sports activities within the First Olympic Video games in 1896.
1964 On the Tokyo Video games, Billy Mills was the primary individual in America’s sporting historical past to take a gold medal within the 10,000meters since 1908 when males’s 10,000m turned a medal sport.
1964 The lads’s basketball staff defeated the us/Soviet Union for his or her sixth straight Olympic Cup (1936-1964) after didn’t make the highest three within the males’s basketball World Championship in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
1968 America’s sports activities system produced a number of Olympic champions and future new stars within the XIX Mexico Metropolis Video games, defeating the us within the medal depend. The States gained 45 golds.
1968 New York’s Bob Beamon set an extended leap world of 29 ft 2 ½ inches, incomes the Olympic title within the Mexican metropolis—which stood till 1991.
1968 Regardless of being thought-about a powerful contender to earn golds in males’s swimming, Mark Spitz solely gained two Olympic titles within the United Mexican States, however that was a prelude to his “large win” within the subsequent Olympiad in West Germany.
1968 The united statesmen’s basketball facet, among the many globe’s most high-profile sports activities groups, obtained the gold for the seventh time in a row through the Mexican Video games.
1968 America’s discus thrower Al Oerter made Olympic historical past to win his fourth consecutive gold (from Melbourne 56 to Mexico 68).
1972 World-class swimmer Mark Spitz made worldwide headlines within the Munich Olympics after successful seven golds: 100m frestyle, defeating 47 rivals from 29 international locations and territories; 200m freestyle, with a victory over his fellow athlete Steve Genter; 100m butterfly, first amongst 39 swimmers from 29 nations; 200m butterfly, completed first over his countryman Gary Corridor; 4x100m freestyle, alongside David Edgar, John Murphy & Jerry Heidenreich; 4x200m freestyle, together with his fellow Individuals John Kinsella, Frederick Tyler, and Steve Genter; 4×100 medley, with Mike Stam, Bruce Tom, and Heidenreich. However, America’s coach James Counsilman was the “hand behind” the victory of his compatriot Spitz.
1972 Whereas America’s elite swimmer Mark Spitz made Olympic historical past within the Summer season Olympics at West Germany’s metropolis of Munich, the basketball nationwide staff didn’t earn the Olympian championship for the primary time, after shedding to the Soviet Union, led by its star and future famer Sergei Belov. Since 1936, the US squad went undefeated to win the Olympian championship.
1972 Olga Connolly –a gold medalist Olympic athlete for Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic since 1993) in 1956- was named because the flag bearer of the US Olympic delegation on the Opening Ceremony of the Summer season Olympics at Munich, West Germany.
1972 Ending forward of the world’s prime 4 runners — amongst these have been Ethiopia’s Mamo Wolde and Japan’s Kenji Kimihara– Frank Shorter, a gold medal-winning marathoner on the VI Pan American Video games in 1971, surprised West Germany by changing into the primary American to realize the marathon since John H. Hayes in 1908.
1976 The ladies’s basketball squad of America earned the Pre-Olympic Cup within the Canadian metropolis of Hamilton, qualifying for the Video games of the Olympiad in Montreal. In Canada, that successful staff defeated such groups as Cuba (89-73), Mexico (80-57), France (79-59), Poland (84-66), and Bulgaria (76-75).
1976 With Darrell Tempo and Luann Ryon, the States completed first within the archery competitors within the XXI Summer season Olympics at Montreal, Canada.
1976 Surprisingly, with a world file of 49,99 seconds, Jim Montgomery captured the lads’s 1oom within the Olympic Swimming Event. He achieved his biggest success at Montreal after gaining a bronze medal within the 100m on the II FINA World Championships in Cali, Colombia (South America), in July 1975.
1976 America’s charismatic athlete Bruce Jenner defeated West Germany’s Guido Kratschmer and Nikolai Avilov from the Soviet Union -winner at Munich’72– to earn the decathlon with 8.618 factors. Throughout his temporary stayed in Montreal, he was thought to be one of many “hottest athletes” by sportswriters and Canadian followers. Upon his win, he turned the face of the Summer season Olympics through the Seventies.
1976 Girls’s basketball debuted within the Olympiad with the US squad gaining a silver medal.
1979 As a warm-up to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, America’s sportsmen and ladies competed on the VII Soviet Spartakiad,between July 21 and August 5, 1979, within the Russian capital of Moscow–the world’s largest multi-sport occasion within the 70s.
1980 The world of sport was mourning the demise of Jesse Owens-who had lots of of followers outdoors america.
1980 After capturing the FIBA Seoul World Championship and the William Jones Cup on Taiwan, the ladies’s basketball facet obtained a spot on the Moscow Olympics following a historic win over the host nation 76-75 within the World Olympic Qualification at Varna, Bulgaria.
1980 The lads’s soccer squad made an surprising returned to the Olympic scene after they certified for the Moscow, however the American couldn’t go the us.
1980 On the request of President Jimmy Carter,the U.S. Olympic Committee determined to boycott the Moscow Video games after a votation, changing into a undertaking in opposition to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan after which adopted by 60 different governments and anti-Soviet rulers –as Albania’s Maoist chairman Enver Hoxha– across the globe. It was a significant blow to America’s Olympian sport.
1980 Forward of the Moscow Video games, the American staff have been planning to spend many days coaching in West Germany.
1983 With the management of the longer term Corridor of Fame participant Michael Jordan, the American basketball staff claimed first within the IX Pan American Sports activities Video games at Venezuela, a very powerful pre-Olympic occasion within the Western Hemisphere.
1983 In making ready for its upcoming occasion -Los Angeles ’84, the U.S. Olympic Committee despatched 5 future Olympian champs to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to compete within the Pan American Boxing Event. They have been Henry Tillman (heavyweight), Jerry Web page (lt.welterweight), Pernell Whitaker (light-weight), Steve McCrory (flyweight), and Paul Gonzalez (tremendous heavyweight).
1984 The Kremlin and its satellites within the creating world – the likes of Laos and the backed-Soviet Angola– and Japanese Europe determined to not take part within the Los Angeles Video games. Equally, 4 anti-American states, Albania, Burkina Faso, Libya and the Islamic republic of Iran, declined to ship athletes to those Olympics. Against this, Guinea, Guyana, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Romania, Seychelles, and Yugoslavia –states with tough ties to Washington-competed at Los Angeles’84.
1984 Los Angeles (CA) was reworked into an “Olympic paradise” with the well-known Olympic Stadium as backdrop. The biggest metropolis of America’s western coast, hosted the Summer season Video games for the second time, thought to be one of many biggest multi-sport occasions in Olympian historical past regardless of a world boycott.
1984 Guyanese-born Innis Jennifer turned the primary naturalized American to compete within the ladies’s lengthy leap within the Olympics. As a United States athlete, she was runner-up within the Pan American Video games at Indianapolis in late 1987. Whereas competing for Guyana -an Anglophone republic on the South American continent– she positioned thirteenth within the 1980 Olympiad. Jennifer’s athletic profession dates from the time when she went overseas to compete within the 1979 Pan American Video games.
1984 Edwin Moses got here in first within the males’s 400m hurdles, capturing its second Olympian title. Curiously, he gained all his races between 1977 and 1987.
1984 In California, the American track-and-field athlete Valerie Brisco-Hooks defeated the up-and-coming Florence Griffith Joyner to win the 200 meters. Brisco-Hooks additionally was the winner of the ladies’s 400m-she was the primary sportswoman to earn each these competitions on the identical Olympic Video games.
1984 The 1984 U.S. Olympic staff got here near successful the water polo gold after shedding to Yugoslavia -an ex champion in 1968– within the finals.
1984 After being runner-up within the 1976 Montreal event, the US ladies’s staff gained the III basketball championship within the Los Angeles Olympiad, securing a berth within the 1988 Olympiad in South Korea. The North American squad was one of many world’s most high-profile groups, attending each Olympic occasion from 1984 onwards.
1984 At Los Angeles, Mary Lou Retton gained a gold medal in ladies’s gymnastics, changing into the primary US ladies to take action. Except for that, she gained 5 1984 Olympic medals.
1984 Surprisingly, Joan Benoit was the primary individual to realize the inaugural ladies’s marathon at Los Angeles by defeating Grete Waitz of Norway and Rosa Mota of Portugal (each world-class runners).
1984 America’s handball gamers participated in ladies’s tournament– It was the primary look for the US facet on the Olympic stage.
1988 At america Olympic Observe and Subject Trials at Indianapolis, California’s sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner, below Bobby Kersee’s watchful eye, lowered the earlier world file of 10,76 seconds (established by her fellow team-mate Evelyn Ashford) within the 100m 4 instances -a 10.60, 10.49, 10.71, and 10.61.
1988 Surprisingly, the lads’s basketball staff of America –often the favorites to acquire the competition-earned a bronze medal. Within the final international event in Spain, by 1986, the nationwide staff positioned first by defeating the Soviet Union.
1988 Astonishingly, America’s prime swimmer Matt Biondi misplaced to Suriname’s Anthony Conrad Nesty within the males’s 100m butterfly.
1988 After ending second within the ladies’s 200m within the Video games of the twenty third Olympiad on US soil in 1984, Griffith Joyner turned the globe’s quickest lady when she obtained three golds within the Seoul Video games:100m, 200m and 400-meter relay. She added a silver medal within the 1,600-meter relay. However that wasn’t all. On September 29, 1988, she broke the world file twice within the ladies’s 200m — 21.56s (semi-finals) and 21.34s (finals). On the medalist’s press convention following his victory in South Korea, she stated: “While you’ve been second-best for therefore lengthy, you’ll be able to both settle for it, or attempt to grow to be one of the best. I made the choice to attempt to be one of the best in 1988”. In addition to being named because the “sportswoman of the yr” by sportswriters, sports activities comentators, and different consultants in Western Europe and the States, she was praised within the Communist-controlled newspapers within the Soviet Union. By the top of the yr, she obtained the 1988 Sullivan Award.
1992 John Smith, Kevin Jackson, and Bruce Baumgartner have been the primary American wrestlers to seize golds in non boycotted Olympic occasions since 1972.
1992 The so-called “Dream Group” made its long-awaited worldwide debut within the Video games of the twenty fifth Olympiad within the Spaniard metropolis of Barcelona, after beating Angola (African champion) 116-48. In a while, the staff turned Olympic champion. The US delegation included the NBA stars Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, Larry Hen, and the young-up-and-coming participant Christian Laettner. From the start, the American facet was the “large favourite” by the media in Spain. 4 years earlier, the 1988 U.S. Olympic squad-made up of American collegians– claimed third within the Olympiad -its worst consequence since 1972-previously they’d a foul yr within the pre-Olympic yr of 1987 when the North American staff shedding to Brazil within the gold-medal match through the X Pan American Video games in Indianapolis (IN). On the time, below Soviet/East German strain (throughout Chilly Battle, precisely), the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to simply accept professionals within the multi-sport occasions. Nonetheless, by 1989, the IOC dominated that skilled athletes have been eligible to take part within the Summer season Olympics (1992-).
1992 The 19-year-old boxer Oscar de la Hoya, nicknamed “Golden Boy”, gained the Olympian light-weight boxing title, upon a win over Marco Rudolph (Germany) within the finals–America’s solely boxing gold within the twenty fifth Olympiad,
1992 Evelyn Ashford certified for the Olympics for the fifth time (from Montreal’76 to Barcelona’92).
1992 After not even qualifying for the 1988 South Korea Video games, New Mexico-born Trent Dimas was the primary American gymnast to grow to be an Olympian champ through the Submit-Chilly Battle period.
1996 Kentucky-born Muhammad Ali-the Biggest– lit the cauldron for the Centennial Video games in Atlanta, giving one of many extra memorable moments within the Summer season Video games.
1996 After capturing the gold within the males’s lengthy leap by defeating James Beckford of Jamaica, Carl Lewis, whose profession spanned three many years, earned his ninth Olympic gold medal. As a result of these trophies, he was thought-about one of many twentieth Century’s biggest athletes. He started to signify the States within the worldwide meets in July 1979 as he attend the VIII Pan American Video games on Puerto Rico in July 1979-at the time Carl Lewis was an pre-Olympic hopeful.
1996 The lads’s soccer staff competed within the Video games after being absent for 2 editions -Seoul’88 & Barcelona’92.Nonetheless, they positioned ninth — the nation’s finest consequence!
1996 The united stateswomen’s soccer staff, one of the vital common squads on the North American continent, gained the Olympic Cup on the Atlanta Video games, the primary time ladies’s soccer was included within the Summer season Olympics. As host nation and medalist within the final international championship in Scandinavia, the U.S. staff was the heavy favourite to realize the Olympic contest, nicely forward of Norway’s facet (the present world champ). In the meantime, the spine of America’s undefeated 1996 championship squad, Mia Hamm was probably the most excellent participant.
2000 Rulon Gardner defeated three-time Olympic champ Aleksadr Karelin of Russia -known throughout Chilly Battle’s time because the Soviet Union/USSR — to win the Greco-Roman tremendous heavy-weight remaining; Karelin had by no means misplaced a world championship. Gardner is broadly thought to be probably the most outstanding wrestler in historical past of the US Olympic wrestling staff.
2000 Baseball historical past was made within the Summer season Video games when the US facet acquired the gold by defeating Cuba.
2000 The US ladies’s staff completed first within the Sydney Olympic softball event, incomes the gold. Within the finals, they defeated Japan in additional innings, 2-1.
2004 The US took first place on the 2004 Athens, capturing 103 medals (35 gold, 39 silver, 27 bronze).
2004 Astonishingly, America’s basketball gamers gained the bronze medal within the males’s Olympic championship, behind Argentina (gold) and Italy (silver). In Athens, the nationwide squad was thought-about a powerful contender to earn the occasion.
2004 Steven Lopez, whose dad and mom are from Nicaragua (Central America), gained a gold medal in taekwondo for the second time in a row. With two golds between 2000 (light-weight) and 2004 (middleweight class), he’s the best American taekwondo fighter of all time.
2008 America’s soccer gamers obtained their Olympic ticket for males’s event in Beijing 2008.
2008 President George W. Bush made a particular journey to the Individuals’s Republic of China to attend the Summer season Video games.
2008 With particular satisfaction, Lopez Lomong –a former refugee throughout Sudan’s civil struggle 1983-2005– accepted to hold the American flag within the four-and-a-half-hour-long opening ceremonies of the Summer season Video games in Beijing’s Nationwide Stadium.
2008 After many disappointing years through which the States repeatedly misplaced the massive occasions – 2004 Olympiad, 2006 FIBA World Cup (third ), 2007 Pan American Video games (fifth place), the nationwide staff gained the basketball event.
2008 Maryland-born swimmer Michael Phelps shocked the world by successful eight Olympics golds in Beijing, China’s capital. This sports activities star — whose supporters quantity amongst them President George W. Bush– gained the 200m particular person medley, the 400m particular person m, the 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, the 4x100m freestyle relay, the 4x200m freestyle relay, and the 4x100m medley relay–breaking the 36 -year-old file of Mark Spitz. His victory within the Asian nation was the topic of appreciable media consideration and was probably the most acknowledge face on the planet in 2008. America athlete is probably the most adorned sportsman in Olympian historical past.
2012 America’s fashionable democracy and political-economic system has produced a number of top-class athletes since 1896 (not as a political propaganda as occurred within the former Soviet Bloc): Alvin Kraenzlein (1900), Mark Spitz (1972), Mary Lou Retton (1984), and Greg Louganis (1984-1988), amongst different high-profile sports activities figures. In contrast to many international locations around the globe, its sportsmen and ladies are lionized by their compatriots. The truth is, they’re Goodwill Ambassadors. At London 2012, the States would possibly ship 580 athletes, having robust probabilities in a number of sports activities as athletics, basketball, seashore volleyball, boxing, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, ladies’s soccer, ladies’s volleyball, and wrestling. Within the final FINA World Aquatics Championships at Shangai, China, for instance, the US delegation captured 17 golds with sports activities stars like Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Rebecca Soni, Jessica Hardy and Missy Franklin. In the meantime, within the 2011 Athletics World event, there have been 12 winners from America.
