Who are your favorite Olympians, past or present?

[curse10]

Do you always root for the good ol' US of A- or are you anti-American? :P

I root for everyone! I think small, little known countries should have a chance too!

I love Svetlana Khorkina. I think she's such a fabulous athlete and I love her attitude.

Others:

Summer:
Alexei Nemov
Greg Louganis
Florence Griffith-Joyner
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Carl Lewis


Winter:
Midori Ito
Surya Bonaly
Katarina Witt (After I saw her in 1984 I HAD to be a figure skater!)
Bonnie Blair
Dan Jansen

[bobthedrummer]

1. Jesse Owens.

[curse10]

2. He was wonderful

One of the best athletes of all time, olympic or otherwise

[fizzana]

10. Paavo Nurmi

He ran 12 races in three Olympics (1920-24-28) winning 9 golds and 3 silver medals. In 1924 he won hte 1,500 meters and then went out an hour later and won the 5,000 meters. '

He was banned from competing in the 1932 Olympics because he took money to appear in a few track meets costing him another few gold medals.

[kodi]

24. jesse owens was the most inspiring olympian, ever.

.

[reprehensor]

3. Hercules.

Hero of song and story.

[HEyHEY]

4. EDDIE THE EAGLE!!!!

ANd Steve Podborski, and ROss Rebgliatti

[oregonjen]

5. Nadia

Those perfect 10's got me hooked on watching gymnastics! I was little, but I still remember how excited everyone was.

[curse10]

6. isn't there a movie about it?

I wasn't even born when she was competing, but I remember it. I loved that movie when I was a kid... now I've gotta go IMDB it!

[cmf]

21. My younger cousin

was named after Nadia. I'm sure there were a lot of little Nadias born that year.

[kariatari]

7. my picks

Summer:
Dot Richardson
Lisa Fernandez
Michelle Smith
Mia Hamm
Brandi Chastain
Dominique Mocianeupicumachuwhatever
Marion Jones

Winter:
Dan Jansen
Picabo Street
Donna Weinbrecht
Jonny Mosely
Surya Bonaly
Bonnie Blair

[curse10]

8. My boyfriend has a mad crush on Marion Jones

:-)

[blue neen]

9. Peggy Fleming

[terrya]

11. Greg Louganis in diving. Mark Tewksbury in swimming.

Yeah, I'll also go along with Carl Lewis.

[HughBeaumont]

12. Edwin Moses

No one other than Sergei Bubka dominated an event (400m Hurdles) like he did.

[RivetJoint]

13. Eric Heiden - Greatest EVER performance in a single Olympics

Others

Carl Lewis
Michael Johnson
Mark Spitz
Rafer Johnson
Ludmilla Torescheva
Nellie Kim


Katarina Witt
Franz Klammer
Dorothy Hamell
Bonnie Blair

[Awsi Dooger]

26. That's a great list

Heiden is my all-time favorite. To dominate the sprint 500 all the way up to the grueling 10,000, vs. all the specialists at every distance, has never been fully appreciated by the average sports fan, IMO.

Jean Claude Killy accomplished virtually the same feat in skiing, Grenoble '68. I'm very surprised he has not been mentioned.

Dorothy Hamill was my teenage crush, now extinguished due to her politics.

Klammer's downhill was the most clutch and on-the-brink performance in Olympic history, due to the home country expectations and no margin for error given the great runs that had already been made.

A personal favorite of mine were the USA men's indoor volleyball gold medal squads of '84 and '88, since I had seen so many of them play in college in California -- Karch Kiraly, Dusty Dvorak, Steve Timmons, Craig Buck, etc. They came from one game down to smash a veteran and outstanding Russian team in the '88 gold medal match.

[argyl]

14. Wilma Rudolph.Overcame polio,childhood illnesses and racial segregration

to win three gold medals in track and the world's love in Rome in 1960.

[Lavender Brown]

15. Kristi Yamaguchi, Alberto Tomba

I like the Winter Olympics best.

[Bertha Venation]

16. Flo-Jo, Brian Boitano, and Daley Thompson

Daley Thompson -- Decathlon Gold, 1980 & 1984

[Red State Rebel]

17. Chris Kattan doing Kerri Strug

He was perfect!!!!

[skygazer]

18. Nadia

Olga Korbut in '72 than Nadia in '76.
My neighbor Bill Koch who won the first ever medal for the US in cross country skiing.
Picabo Street
Peggy Fleming
Ian Thorpe
Tad Coffin, equestrian in the '76 games
the Jamaican bobsled team

[Commendatori]

19. Katarina Witt

I got to meet her a couple times and she's just great, definitely my favorite female Olympian. The male pig in me likes her, too, but I digress.

Ken Morrow from the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, who went on to play for my beloved NY Islanders, is my favorite male Olympian.

[jonnyblitz]

20. I don't follow sports. I just watch beauty pageants. n/t

[VelmaD]

22. I have a long list...

Winter:
Michelle Kwan
Artur Dimetriev
Alexei Yagudin
Georg Hackel
Dick Button
The Protopopovs
Robin Cousins
Torvill and Dean
Johann Olav Koss

Summer:
Wilma Rudolph
John Stephen Ahkwari
Abibi Bakila
Nadia
Olga
Jesse Owens
FloJo
Greg Louganis

[midnight armadillo]

23. Tommy Kono and Norb Schemansky in weightlifting

Tommy Kono info
"Tommy Kono established world records in four body weight classes: lightweight (148 pounds), middleweight (165), light-heavyweight (181), and middle-heavyweight (198). Only two years after beginning Olympic lifting, he made the highest total of any lightweight lifter in the United States. Within four years of this first contest, he won the Gold Medal at the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki, Finland. He was world champion every year from 1953 through 1959, which included a second Gold Medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He established 26 world records and seven Olympic records."

Not bad for a guy who spent his childhood in the US internment camps for Japanese-Americans. He went on to win a 'Mr. World' and a few 'Mr Universe' competitions while he was at it. His book on Olympic lifting is stellar, and he's a class act all way. He lives in Hawaii.

Norb was generally ignored for his accomplishments, including winning 4 Olympic medals (2 golds, silver, bronze) in FOUR separate Olympics, including a bronze at the age of 38(!). Somewhere in there he had 2 back surgeris too. He also set a number of Olympic, US, and world records. Here he is doing a split snatch at the Olympics for that last bronze medal:

[LeftishBrit]

25. Historically, Jesse Owens

Among more recent people, Torvill and Dean; and like many Brits, I do have a soft spot for Eddie the Eagle!