Every Olympics, no matter if its Summer or Winter, there is always one or two moments, stories, or events that leave an indelible mark on us as sports fans. While many of the events and sports blend together from year to year there is at least one “Olympic” moment that reminds us why we all love this sporting event so much. Here is a listing of those moments from the 1960 Olympics onward. Feel free to disagree and dicuss.
Year | Olympics | Moment |
1960 | Winter (Squaw Valley, California) | U.S. wins first ever gold medal in Olympic hockey |
1960 | Summer (Rome, Italy) | Cassius Clay wins olympic gold in light heavyweight boxing |
1964 | Winter (Innsbruck, Austria) | Terry McDermott wins first speed skating gold for U.S. in 12 years |
1964 | Summer (Tokyo, Japan) | Billy Mills becomes only American ever to win 10,000 meter race |
1968 | Winter (Grenoble, France) | Peggy Fleming wins U.S. women’s figure skating gold |
1968 | Summer (Mexico City, Mexico) | Bob Beamon flies to world record 29 foot gold medal jump in the long jump |
1972 | Winter (Sapporo, Japan) | Japan wins first-ever olympic winter medals in front of home crown in ski jumping |
1972 | Summer (Munich, Germany) | United States gets screwed out of olympic basketball gold by USSR |
1976 | Winter (Innsbruck, Austria) | Dorothy Hamill wins women’s figure skating olympic gold |
1976 | Summer (Montreal, Canada) | Nadia Comaneci gets first perfect 10 en route to women’s gymnastics gold |
1980 | Winter (Lake Placid, NY) | Miracle on Ice: U.S. Men’s Hockey Team wins gold medal |
1980 | Summer (Moscow, Soviet Union) | Allan Wells wins first British 100 meter gold since 1924 |
1984 | Winter (Sarajevo, Yugoslavia) | Scott Hamilton wins men’s figure skating olympic gold |
1984 | Summer (Los Angeles, CA) | Carl Lewis makes olympic debut and wins four gold medals |
1988 | Winter (Calgary, Canada) | Bonnie Blair makes olympic debute and wins speed skating gold |
1988 | Summer (Seoul, South Korea) | Roy Jones Jr. gets screwed out of olympic boxing gold |
1992 | Winter (Albertville, France) | Kristi Yamaguchi wins women’s figure skating gold |
1992 | Summer (Barcelona, Spain) | The Dream Team wins U.S. men’s basketball gold |
1994 | Winter (Lilehammer, Norway) | Nancy Kerrigan vs. Tonya Harding saga |
1996 | Summer (Atlanta, GA) | Kerri Strug lands vault on one foot to win team gold for U.S. gymnastics |
1998 | Winter (Nagano, Japan) | Hermann Maier wrecks in downhill but comes back to win two gold medals |
2000 | Summer (Sydney, Australia) | Rulon Gardner wins shocking greco-roman wrestling gold medal with incredible upset |
2002 | Winter (Salt Lake City, UT) | Sarah Hughes wins shocking gold in women’s figure skating |
2004 | Summer (Athens, Greece) | U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball team falters to bronze medal |
2006 | Winter (Torino, Italy) | Shaun White dominates olympic snowboarding half pipe en route to his first gold |
2008 | Summer (Beijing, China) | Michael Phelps sets record for 8 gold medals in one olympics |
2010 | Winter (Vancouver, Canada) | Lindsey Vonn wins first U.S. gold in women’s downhill |
2012 | Summer (London, England) | Andy Murray wins first British tennis gold medal at Wimbledon |
2014 | Winter (Sochi, Russia) | Canada women’s hockey completes shocking comeback over U.S. in gold medal game |
2016 | Summer (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) | Michael Phelps wins 5 golds in Olympic swan song |
2018 | Winter (Pyeongchang, South Korea) | Chris Mazdzer wins first-ever U.S. olympic men’s singles luge medal |