Top 5 Memorable Moments in Olympic History

While every athlete dreams of being remembered as one of the best Olympians to participate in the Olympics, most can’t even qualify. Some may even have terrible moments that define their careers, but either way, they create memorable moments that will remain on the Olympic history timeline forever.

In this article, we outline the top five most memorable moments in Olympic history, whether it involves breaking world records, suffering catastrophic failures, or major rule changes altering the face of the Olympics altogether. Keep in mind that we are looking at what makes these moments the most memorable in our opinion, so there may be some subjectivity surrounding the events we included and the ones we left out.

#1. 1936 Berlin Olympics – Jesse Owens breaks world records

As one of the first Olympic games to ever occur (1896), the Berlin-based Summer Games were none other than political during this WWI-WWII era. During this time, Adolf Hitler had the idea that the German-bound Olympics would show off the supposed ‘superior Aryan race’ ideals of the German nation which was completely shattered by the African-American known as Jesse Owens. Owens in this singular Olympic games would win four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump, making him an absolute spectacle to watch during track and field, especially with the false racial premonition that he was ‘inferior’ to other athletes due to his skin color.

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#2. 1960 Rome Olympics – Olympic Games are first televised

You can only guess what makes this one of the top five memorable moments in Olympic history, as every Olympic summer and winter event that occurs to this day stems from this moment. To kick off the commercialization of the Olympic games, CBS would gain exclusive rights for broadcasting the games in the United States. The process for doing so in 1960, however, was rather complicated compared to nowadays, where videotapes needed to be transported from Italy to France before being re-edited and shipped to North America on a jet. What made this a top-five memorable moment is the fact that despite the lengthy arrangements for broadcasting, the United States still managed to air the games on the same day they were being played, creating the modern rise of televising the big Olympic spectacle.

#3. 1980 Moscow Olympics – U.S. boycotts Russian games, hosts Liberty Bell Classic

Amid another ongoing political crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union, the U.S. boycotted the entire 1980 Russian-based summer games. After Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter led one of the largest Olympic boycotts against the Soviet games and constructed the Liberty Bell Classic in Philadelphia, which essentially became known as the ‘Olympic Boycott Games’. As for the Moscow Games, 36 different countries earned medals, while the majority of them were won by the Soviet Union and East Germany, causing the most skewed result in medalists since 1904. What wasn’t known at the time, was that the rise of performance-enhancing steroids was underway, and many Soviet athletes who utilized these drugs were tested to have ‘clean results’. With everything occurring in one of the wildest Olympic years, the 1980 Moscow Olympics are one of the top five memorable moments in Olympic History.

#4. 2008 Beijing Olympics – Michael Phelps wins the most gold medals ever

If you’ve been alive for the 21st century, then you probably remember the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Michael Phelps’s single-handed dominance. Seeing athletes of this caliber participate in any sport, regardless of what it is, is truly an honor, and we suspect this is one of the top five most memorable moments in Olympic history. Phelps coming out of the 2004 Athens games had six golds and two bronzes, so no one was expecting an improvement at this level. But so he did, winning gold in the 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly, 200m Freestyle, 200m Individual Medley, 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x100m Medley Relay, 4x200m Freestyle Relay and 400m Individual Medley – 8 golds – making him one of the most decorated Olympians of all time before the 2012 London Games!

#5. 2020 Tokyo Olympics – COVID-19 global pandemic delays the games

Despite the title ‘2020 Tokyo Olympics’, the set of the 2020 Summer Games took place in the summer of 2021. Fans and athletes of the big Olympic Games know full well the event is already on a timely schedule, so the slightest shift can offset future events for years to come. Originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020, a global pandemic involving the virus COVID-19 struck the entire world. What ensued in the following years was not something Japan, the U.S., and any other country in the entire world was prepared for, causing the entirety of the 2020 Olympics to be reevaluated, as well as every other major global event for the next couple of years. All in all, this is hands down one of the most memorable moments to happen in Olympic history.