The Olympics Are As Much an Exercise in Patriotism As They Are An
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OLYMPICS | LONDON 2012 America's Best Moments he Olympics are as much an exercise in patriotism as they Tare an individual achievement. It just feels good to root for athletes from your own country. The United States is fortunate to have some of the most thrilling victories in the THE DREAM TEAM history of summer Olympics. Here's a look Widely considered the at a few of them. most talented Olympic team to compete in any sport, the 1992 United States men's JESSE OWENS Olympic basketball team Adolf Hitler had plans to make the 1936 consisted of the biggest Olympic games a demonstration of the stars in the National superiority of the Aryan race. Basketball Association. Jesse Owens had other ideas. Consisting entirely of bas- Owens, a black man from America, won ketball icons — including four different gold medals in Berlin in one Michael Jordan, David of history's greatest athletic accomplish- Robinson, Patrick Ewing, ments. It would take nearly 50 years — Larry Bird, Scottie until the 1984 games — before any runner Pippen, Clyde Drexler, equaled his Olympic four-gold-medal per- Karl Malone, Charles formance. Barkley and Magic Hitler is said to have been embarrassed Johnson — the Dream that a non-German could dominate the Team soundly defeated Berlin games so completely. Owens showed every opponent in the that it's talent and training, not a particular games. set of genetics, that leads to victory. They beat their com- petition by an average of 43 points per game, MARY LOU RETTON making it look easy to In 1984, when the Cold War was still sim- win a gold medal. mering between the United States and the Soviet Union, a young American girl did what many people thought was impossible: MICHAEL winning the Olympic all-around gymnas- tics title. PHELPS Eastern European countries had domi- He stunned the nated the sport of gymnastics for decades world by winning before Retton took the stage. There were 14 eight gold medals in a single countries from the Eastern Bloc that boy- Olympics, setting a new record and domi- cotted the Olympics that year in Los nating his sport like no man before him. Angeles, but that didn't take away from Michael Phelps became a household Retton's spectacular performance. She name after the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He won a stunning eight Olympic gold The Buckeye Bullet: Jesse Owens, one of the greatest scored perfect 10s on the vault and floor runners of all time, brought home four gold medals to exercises — an exceptionally rare feat — to medals in swimming events, bringing his beat a Romanian athlete for Olympic gold. total collection of Olympic medals — gold, America at a time when Adolf Hilter wanted to show silver and bronze — to 16. the superiority of the German people..