What Was the Greatest Olympic Moment ('60s to '80s)?

I'm Canadian, but that was one of the greatest moments ever in sports.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES!

Because I know someone who was on the team, the 1980 US Hockey Gold Medal...

Hands down, the best. Will never be topped. And over 30 years ago, America WAS America and proud of it.

I remember most of these... That Nadia stuff is unforgettable. And that was only one woman.

So many memories from the 1968 Olympics, especially in T&F.;

One of my first memories is the Bills Mills 10,000m Gold (as well as Bob Schul's 5000m Gold) They showed entire replays over and over.

Tired of hearing about the 1980 US Ice Hockey Team. The US always had great teams, won the gold in 1960, coming in 1st or 2nd in 10 out of 22 Olympics(for comparison Canada was 1st or 2nd in 12 Olympics), and the USSR game wasn't even the Gold Medal game.

Made me believe in miracles.

This is not even close considering the circumstances. Comparing a team sport where a definitive outcome occurs to say, a sport such as gymnastics (or ice dancing as someone else points out in the thread) where ratings are completely subjective, is absurd. Those of us old enough to remember any of these must also remember the gag about scoring systems. A 9.9, a 9.8, a 9.7, a 9.8...and a 5.4 from the East German judge. It's an art form trying to be a sport and does not belong in the Olympics IMO. As far as this particular Olympics go, you have a team of College age kids hand picked by Herb Brooks to face the worlds best i.e. each country's all-star teams. Worse still, in the case of the USSR, their all-star team had been playing together (with modest changes over time) for upwards of a decade. The USSR team was also drawing players from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia. That the US team defeated the USSR is still unbelievable. Such a scenario will likely never be seen again. It is IMO, the greatest upset in sports history.

nadia

Mary Lou Renton gymnastics 1984 in LA. She got 10s from all the judges and was absolutley awesome.

No question, didn't they make a movie about that?

This will mean nothing to anyone outside the skating community but in the 1984 Olympics, a dance team named Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean scored perfect 6's in their performance of Ravel's Bolero and won Gold that night. I don't believe anyone has used that music since, basically they own it and its one of the most remembered performances in a year of memorable performances.

Beating the Russians at Placid!

That was a no brainer... 1980 Olympic Hockey team... hands down

Underdogs big time. Great Movie with Kurt Russell

Now that is a no brainer.

Do you believe in miracles?

Most iconic? Why, Jesse Owens, of course. Humilitating Hitler and the white power gig in 1938. The other "iconic" was the 1980 Hockey team, and it igniting America to the sport of hockey. Cassius Clay, why of course. But, Clay was more for his achievements after the Olympics.

Ooops, sorry. I missed that 60's-80's time span. Sorry. Owens is still in the hearts of those who know.

1972 Munich,,,,,Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israelie athletes NEVER FORGET! but you already have.

Good point,

That was not a great Olympic moment; it was the most tragic.

I just wanted to point out how Palestinians go for the Gold and everyone will be so supprized this summer when the barbarians will probably try to strike again in London

in response to this, I'm sure the question asked what is the greatest. 72' was the worst because of that tragedy. not the games finest moment.

Again, not familiar with all of them, but a huge upset is always memorable.

Black power salute...LOL... talk about bringing countries and racist together... Derrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

To Be honest I only knew about Cassius Clay because I saw ''Ali'' LOl. but that was a great moment in the history of sports for as far as I know

Hard to duplicate her record.

I'm not going to lie, the I was too young for the Hockey game and Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10, which were the other two I would have picked. I'm not a big fan of the Black Power salute at Mexico City, at all.

God Bless Herb.

Bob Beamon's long jump was a close second, it looked like he was flying.

Miracle was a great movie.

None of the others were between 2 super powers.

I bought both Jersys and still wear then at different times. The Sovciet is kinds tough to take outside a Winter setting. It's Wool

Daly Thompson, in 1984, I think.

His exuberant back flip. Loved it. Such a genuinely nice fella

I was a student in Albany, NY when the US Hockey Team took on the much more powerful and heavily favored Soviet team in the 1980 Olympics. Back then they weren't even allowed to broadcast the game live and of course no one had cell phones, so we had one friend at that game who would run to the nearest pay phone when he could and give us updates. When the game ended his one word message was "MIRACLE".

I wasn't alive in 1936 so I could not experience first hand Jesse Owens putting the entire Nazi regime in its place, but that is the only moment I can think of that even MIGHT rival the patriotic orgasm this nation had when that hockey team prevailed.

Yup, Jessie Owen's in my mind is the best Olympic story this country has ever had.

ABC had the option of running the game live. Unfortunately, it was a 5:00 pm start. They opted (the USSR would not allow ABC to reschedule the game for prime time so they could either show it live or tape it) to show it during prime time, taped at 8:00. You may recall at the time, the US had one tie and two victories going into that game. The tie was against heavily favored Sweden while one of the victories was a pounding of heavily favored Czechoslovakia. So, the team, which had not received much attention at all coming into the games, was generating a buzz with the win over the Czechs (who were odds on favorites for the silver or bronze).

Thanks for filling in the details!

The only reason I picked other is ALL OF THE ABOVE was not an option.

Far and away.