The Most Memorable Moments From Summer Olympics History

The 1936 Olympics were supposed to be a testament to the supremacy of the Germanic race, and Adolf Hitler had high expectations for Germany's athletes. Because of the Nuremberg Laws and the targeting of Germany's various minorities, there was a call to boycott the games. Per Craig Chamberlain of the University of Illinois, the NAACP lobbied for the United States to withdraw, and the organization's president had even prepared a letter for one of the team's star athletes, sprinter Jesse Owens.

Owens went to the games anyway, and he won four gold medals. One of his most memorable moments, which infuriated Hitler, came after he won the long jump. Owens was behind German Luz Long and was risking elimination in the qualifying rounds. According to Owens himself (via NPR), Long gave him some technical advice that allowed him to advance to the final round, which he won. Later, though, Owens admitted that he had made that part of the story up. It is true, however, that he and Long embraced after the games were over, much to Hitler's displeasure.

Long and Owens continued their friendship until 1943, when Long was killed in World War II. In his last letter, Long asked Owens to tell his (Long's) son "how things can be between men on this earth." These final uplifting words captured the true spirit of the Olympic Games, transcending national, racial, and political boundaries that otherwise divided the world in the bloodiest conflict in human history.

The Second World War delayed the Olympics until 1948, when London reopened the games and ruined Europe was given a reason to celebrate again. In 1952, the games moved to Helsinki, which had managed to avoid absorption into the Eastern Bloc. Because of the improvements in training, combined with the fact that no records had been broken since 1936 at the games, it gave an opportunity for new stars to achieve personal bests and shatter old records.

The Olympic record for the 1,500-meter run in 1952 belonged to Jack Lovelock of New Zealand with a time of 3:47.8. Three minutes and 45 seconds later, that record had been broken eight times. According to the International Olympic Committee, Luxembourgish athlete Joseph Barthel led the way, winning the gold with a time of 3:45.2. Incredibly, the next seven runners in the final all ran under 3:47.8, as well. In fourth place, just outside of the medal zone but faster than the previous record, was a young Roger Bannister. Although he did not win in 1952, he would be the first man ever to run a documented sub-4 minute mile, heralding a new era in middle-distance running.

In 1960, rumblings of independence were felt across Africa as new nations rose out of the European colonial states. As Africa's new nations declared independence, they began to participate in world sporting events such as the Olympics. Ethiopia led the way to what would be a first medal for a sub-Saharan African nation.

Born on a mountainous, remote plateau in the Shewa region of Ethiopia, Abebe Bikila hardly seemed like a candidate to become a world champion. His life, however, according to Sports History Weekly, took an unexpected turn when he joined the imperial guard. As part of his duties, he regularly ran long distances at more than 8,000 feet above sea level, giving him an unparalleled level of fitness that caught the attention of Swedish coach Onni Niskanen.

Bikila reached the world stage in Rome in 1960, when he qualified for the Olympic marathon. 1960 was Ethiopia's second participation in the games. The 1956 delegation came home empty-handed, and there was hope that this time, things would be different.

Per Science Daily, when Bikila arrived in Rome, he did not have a pair of shoes to run the race in. After buying some that did not fit, he opted to run barefoot instead, which was (and still is) permitted under IOC rules. In the scorching heat of the Roman summer, Bikila defeated Moroccan Rhadi Ben Abdessalem to clinch the gold, Ethiopia's only medal that year. His win made him a national hero and is credited with beginning the East African domination of distance running that continues to this day.

The Mexico City games featured another memorable moment that was ultimately overshadowed by the Black Power salute. Nevertheless, this particular one would change how the high jump was executed. According to the IOC, the high jump before 1968 was usually performed with a straddle jump. The athlete ran up to the bar and jumped over upright, eventually landing on his feet. Because there was little padding, landing on one's feet was crucial to avoiding injury.

For thin athletes, these types of jumps resulted in knee injuries. Dick Fosbury, a student from Oregon, changed the way the jump was executed. Instead of jumping up, he ran the last few steps along an arc before jumping and twisting his body into a supine position relative to the bar. According to Stanford, his center of mass stayed under the bar. Although, according to History, it looked to observers "like a guy falling off the back of a truck," it worked. Fosbury proved his detractors, who'd claimed his way of jumping would kill high jumpers by breaking their necks, wrong by winning the gold medal.

The Fosbury flop changed the way the high jump was executed — today, it is the principal technique. It also resulted in some changes to the high jump station, as more padding was needed to ensure that athletes had a soft landing to avoid injuring their heads and necks.

The 1972 men's basketball final was a Cold War matchup between the undefeated United States and the Soviet Union. This game would be settled, controversially, at literally the last second of the match.

According to the LA Times, the score stood at 49-48 in the Soviets' favor, with three seconds left. The Americans were handed a lifeline of two free throws after Zurab Sakandelidze brutally fouled Doug Collins. Collins' first shot tied the game. As he was taking the second, the Soviets requested a time-out. Brazilian referee Renato Righetto, however, did not stop play. With the score now at 50-49, the Soviet staff protested the refereeing decision. Since a time-out could not be called after the free throw, they were forced to attack the American half of the court with no plan and only one second left.

Per Sports Engine, Righetto resumed play with one second on the clock, the Soviets failed to score, and the Americans celebrated. FIBA head Renato Jones, however, ordered the clock back to three seconds, when the Soviets had requested their time-out. Righetto protested but ultimately relented. Both teams returned to the court. A long pass from Ivan Edeshko to Aleksandr Belov allowed the latter to score a layup, handing the Soviets a 51-50 victory and the gold. Jones later admitted his mistake, as he had not expected the Soviets to score. To this day, the silver medals remain unclaimed, stored in an IOC vault in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The 1984 3,000-meter final had three main contenders. Romanian Maricica Puica and American IAAF champion Mary Decker were the favorites. Joining the trio was 18-year-old South African-born Zola Budd, who represented Great Britain. Decker was billed as the likely winner, but some bad luck (or foul play) would end her and Budd's hopes of an Olympic gold.

In the middle of the race, Budd and Decker became entangled with each other while jockeying for position. Decker tumbled onto the infield, while Budd managed to keep going. Budd had tripped her opponent, or so it seemed. According to Page Six, the media blamed Budd for Decker's loss. The officials disqualified Budd but soon cleared her of any wrongdoing. However, she gave up the race and dropped back to seventh place, leaving Puica the gold.

With the emotion in the past, the LA Times reported that today, the consensus is that Budd was innocent. In a crowded first lane, Budd had stumbled under Decker's close pressure. In athletics, it is the athletes' responsibility to avoid interfering with those in front of them.  Boxed inside lane 1, Decker had no room to move but forward. When Budd tried to move out of her way, the contact resulted in the trip that cost Decker the gold. CNN noted Decker's own inexperience with pack running, which Sports Illustrated had previously stated cost her the gold.

The Korean peninsula has been divided since the Soviet Union installed Kim Il-Sung's communist regime in North Korea in 1945. Since the Korean War armistice of 1953, there have been multiple attempts at détente with hopes of eventually reunifying the peninsula. The 2000 Sydney Olympics provided an opportunity to build bridges between the two sides.

North and South Korea compete as separate countries with their own delegations, flag bearers, and anthems. In 2000, however, according to The Guardian, the two countries held a summit in Pyongyang and decided that in Sydney, the two delegations would march in the opening ceremony together in one uniform, under one flag, and with one anthem. According to ESPN, with the approval of the IOC and their respective governments, blue-clad Korean athletes mingled freely as if one nation and marched together under a white flag emblazoned with the blue outline of the Korean Peninsula.

Many Koreans interviewed that day, some of whom undoubtedly remembered the war, expressed joy at the sight. Although many believed that the moment would never be a reality in their lifetimes, the gesture contributed to hopes that the Olympics and sports in general could help heal the political divide of the 53rd Parallel.

In the first decade of the 2000s, Yelena Isinbaeva was the darling of athletics and the "first lady" of the pole vault, per the IOC. The Russian pole vaulter had won the 2004 Olympic gold and set a world record of 4.91 meters. In Beijing in 2008, as Usain Bolt was lighting up the track, Isinbaeva was smashing her own records, drawing comparisons to the Jamaican sprinter and elevating the Russian's name to global recognition.

According to World Athletics, the 2008 pole vault pitted Isinbaeva against Jenn Stuczynski, the only athlete believed to be capable of defeating her. By the time the bar was set to 4.80 meters, only Isinbaeva and Stuczynski remained in the competition. Both athletes cleared the height, and the bar was moved to 4.90. Stuczynski failed to clear and was eliminated, leaving Isinbaeva to face her most difficult opponent — herself. Needing two jumps to break her now-5.04-meter record, Isinbaeva cleared 4.90, and then on her final jump, she set her 24th record by vaulting 5.05 meters. Isinbaeva's incredible exploits earned her athlete of the year in 2008. Joining her on the stage was Usain Bolt, who was the award's male counterpart. Together, they formed an unstoppable duo whose records continue to stand nearly 15 years later.

This "memorable moment" is composed of two different moments from two different games. Before the 2016 games, American swimmer Katie Ledecky had plenty to be proud of. At the London 2012 games, according to ESPN, she had stunned the field of more experienced athletes by winning the gold in the 800-meter freestyle at a mere 15 years old. She defeated her opponents by almost four seconds. One could be forgiven for thinking she had hit the pinnacle of her career so young, but Ledecky would outdo her already incredible achievement in Rio de Janeiro four years later.

At the 2016 games, Ledecky won medals in the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle races. Her greatest win, though, once again, came in the 800-meter. According to The New York Times, Ledecky nearly matched the largest margin of victory — 11.7 seconds — that American athlete Debbie Meyer had set in the Mexico 1968 games. However, her time was almost 80 seconds faster than the 1968 time, leading to the conclusion that Ledecky had defeated her opponents by the same margin as Meyer while swimming faster, making her record more meaningful. At the moment she touched the pool after her last lap, the television cameras did not show any of her competitors in the frame.