2008
BEIJING
Everyone’s second favourite Boult — er, we mean Bolt. Boult was a beloved left-armer — joined at birth with Tim Southee — who steamed in for New Zealand but was possibly not quite as fast as Usain. He did get his yorker to swing more, though.
The Jamaican Bolt could really gallop. He was so quick he was able to coast to the finish of the 100m and he even held the pose for the photographers 10m out.
His win was an equal combination of astonishing and intoxicating.
It was a shot in the arm for an event where too many previous winners had been taking a, well, shot in the arm.
And the ease at which he strolled to a then-world record time of 9.69sec was breathtaking.
It took the 21-year-old just 41 strides to cover the distance and he had wolfed down two portions of chicken nuggets earlier in the day.
1992
BARCELONA
The Dream Team included a few other no-names like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, but Larry Bird was there to lift the profile of the ragtag bunch of basketballers and improve the future sales of sneakers.
The Bird, you see, popped up on my feed a few years back. Something about him being the real GOAT.
I reposted it. Just once. But he is always there waiting for me to log back on.
I half suspect, following this mention, his global domination of my social media will reach pandemic level — a sort of Bird flu.
The Yanks won by the way. They edged Croatia by 30-odd points in the final. They could play a little bit.
1980
MOSCOW
Allan Wells will always equate to Superman in my mind.
The Scottish sprinter was all muscle and hustle in the socialist utopia.
His win in the 100m is my earliest Olympic memory.
There was a little boycott that year — 65 nations opted out, including the US and their flock of sprinters.
That was outside my bandwidth then and probably still is — stick to lists, Seconi.
2024
THE FREE WORLD
Donald Trump lies for America and wins gold screamed the headline on Fake News Today.
The former reality star, who can bend the truth further than previously thought possible under the alternative facts doctrine, outshone his doddery opponent who stumbled into a series of indecipherable, but possibly true, word salads and was disqualified after he could not negotiate the second step on the podium and fell backwards into the loving embrace of democracy.
"It is a great day for ’Merica," a fan of the Orange Man with the wispy hair said.
1964
TOKYO
Peter Snell — come on.
Obviously don’t remember the great New Zealander winning the 800m and 1500m gold medals — way too young, he says, while wondering how long it will be before the landline rings again. But we’ve all seen the grainy footage. And if you squint closely you can see the powerful figure of Snell striding away from the field in that wonderful black singlet.
2008
BEIJING
Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history. The American swimmer won 28 medals — 23 of them gold.
He was unbeatable in Beijing. Only brought this up because of the narrative surrounding how much he could put away at breakfast and so we can tell the story of my boss Hayden Meikle grilling him at Moana Pool over whether pancakes are best served with lemon and sugar or maple syrup. Some of your best work, mate.
2000
SYDNEY
"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie".
The home team did rather well at those Olympics, whereas New Zealand flamed out.
We are still bitter now.
But if you have to cheer for an Aussie then who better than Cathy Freeman in her space-age, hooded running suit tearing around the track in lane six to win gold in the 400m.
She had become a symbol for something a lot greater than sporting success in Australia — reconciliation.
It was bit like the Springboks win at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Still bitter about that, too.
1984
LOS ANGELES
All of New Zealand was giddy with success.
Eight golds. One silver. Two bronze. Eighth place on the table.
The Eastern Bloc countries boycotted in a tit-for-tat response for the Moscow snub. But, hey, these games made the likes of Mark Todd, Ian Ferguson, Paul MacDonald and Russell Coutts household names.
Hell, there is probably a bronze of Charisma somewhere.
