July 23 Olympics Flashbacks

1976

This was the moment she scored the first Perfect 10 in the history of the sport, and they were so unprepared for this that they didn't have ROOM for a 10 on the scoreboard. I remember watching the Nadia TV movie and they made a big deal of the GASPS when that 1.0 came up, until it was made clear that this was the only way they could think of to convey a 10.

Picture taken 23 July 1976 of Rumanian champion Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, during Olympic Games in Montreal where she was awarded with ten points in two exercices and captured 3 gold medals (beam, uneven bars and general competition). Legendary gymnast, during her career Nadia Comaneci captured four Olympic gold medals (1976 : beam, uneven bars and general competition - 1980, beam) and was the first to score 10 in her discipline. (Photo credit should read STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Apparently I got two pictures of Nadia. Look at the intensity. She scored two or three 10s and won three medals at this Games.

July 23, 1996

ATLANTA - JULY 23: Kerri Strug of the United States grimaces after injuring her ankle while landing a vault during the team competition of the Women's Gymnastics event of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games held on July 23, 1996 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. Strug was part of the gold medal winning USA Women's team, nicknamed the Magnificent Seven. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)

For some reason we didn't have pictures of her landing on one leg. This is her first vault. You can see she's in immense pain. Wikipedia claims that Bela said, "Kerri, we need you to go one more time. We need you one more time for the gold. You can do it, you better do it." And I just... applaud her for having the guts, but WHAT a thing to say to a hurt kid. It's the Olympics and it's everyone's dream, but too often we prioritize the concept of grit over sense and health. [Along those lines: You know the Advil campaign right now, "Pain says you can't; Advil says you can"? I HATE IT because to me it says, "Ignore your body's very real signals that it's struggling and just dope it up!"] I'm not saying she wouldn't have gone up anyway, but the fact that she asked if they needed it... SHE needed someone out there on the floor who cared about HER, to let her make her own choice.

ATLANTA - JULY 23: Injured gymnast Kerri Strug is carried by coach Bela Karolyi after the U.S. women's gymnastics team was presented with their gold medals after winning the team competition at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

This also says so much to me. Bela is practically jolly, toting around Kerri like a prop, and Kerri's face is totally flat -- I'm sure she's in shock, I'm sure she'd cried a whole lot in joy and sorrow, and she has both her legs wrapped. It's a moment I will NEVER forget, and she truly gave me goosebumps, but it's hard not to look back and also feel terribly sad. What a psychological burden was put on her, and what WOULD have been put on her if she hadn't landed it? Or what if she had said, reasonably, "I'm really hurt, I can't go out there"? If that had been a choice (sure, theoretically, it was, but... WAS it REALLY?) then how would she have been made to pay for it?

Dominique Dawes

Quick shout-out to all gymnasts. What you do is unbelievable, whether you're Simone Biles or the girl who just missed the team. You're all amazing.

John Carpenter, July 23, 1908

American athlete John Carpenter crosses the finishing line of the Olympic 400 Metres final but White City officials had already disqualified him for preventing his English competitor, Wyndham Halswelle, from overtaking during the race, 23rd July 1908. The race was later re-run with Halswelle as the sole participant. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

John Carpenter of the USA won the the 400 meters, but was disqualified for impeding his rival Wyndham Halswelle from finishing cleanly. Apparently they didn't use lanes in 1908, and Carpenter ran wide to force Halswelle to the very edge of the track, and then used his elbow to block him from being able to pass -- something that was apparently legal in USA Track and Field at that time?!? But this was the London Olympics, and London rules, and I guess they rightly disapprove of elbows. The race was re-run, but I guess everyone else in it was American and they refused to run in protest, so...

British runner Wyndham Halswelle (1882-1915) wins the men's 400-metre event of the 1908 Summer Olympics at White City Stadium in London, 23rd July 1908. The race attracted controversy after the disqualification of American athlete John Carpenter, and other two finalists, both American athletes, William Robbins and John Taylor, refusing to run in protest at the treatment of Carpenter, leaving Halswelle to become the only athlete to win an Olympic title by a walkover. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

... Halswelle ran it by himself, the only such instance of this in modern Olympic history. This victory shot sincerely cracks me up. Bravo for still being stoked you won when your only competition LITERALLY was yourself. And I hope he truly marinated in it, as he was killed by a sniper's bullet in World War I. And as if that weren't enough of a Debbie Downer moment, Carpenter was hit and killed by a train in 1933. Imagine this as one of those movies where you find out over the end credits what happened to everyone after the big event. Yikes.

CANADA - JULY 14: Piggy-back ride is one small pleasure husband-wife pairs of Olympic athletes can share; when security guards allow them a moment alone. Cheryl Howard; 23; a Canadian rower; lifts her marathoner husband; Tom; 27. (Photo by Ron Bull/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Informative Caption reads, "Piggy-back ride is one small pleasure husband-wife pairs of Olympic athletes can share when security guards allow them a moment alone. Cheryl Howard, 23, a Canadian rower, lifts her marathoner husband, Tom, 27." These days the controversy is whether the beds are designed to prevent excessive boning?!?

Angel Martino, Catherine Fox, Amy Van Dyken, and Jenny Thompson

It was the 1996 Olympics when Amy Van Dyken became the first American swimmer to win four golds in one Olympics. But then she said and did truly shitty things in 2000 about a fellow swimmer, which tarnished that legacy, and THEN got into an ATV accident in 2014 that severed her spinal cord. This slideshow has taken a dark turn.

1988

Flo-Jo here is shown competing in the Olympic trials -- the Olympics were in Seoul this year, and happened in September. But as this all happened on July 22 and 23 in that year, I decided it was CLOSE ENOUGH, and that we should take as many opportunities to celebrate Florence's one-legged catsuits as possible. The white faux-underpants over this one really kind of spoil the effect for me.

Florence Griffith-Joyner

She really liked the white, I guess.

Florence Griffith-Joyner

I far prefer the color contrast of this one.

Florence Griffith-Joyner

It's hard to overstate how radical this was in 1988. People are more widely comfortable expressing their personalities during competition now, but she really made headlines at the time.

17 Jul 1988: Florence Griffith-Joyner runs down the track during the Olympic Trials. Mandatory Credit: Tony Duffy /Allsport

I love this photo.

American Florence Griffith-Joyner during the 200m of the World Track and Field Championships. (Photo by Gilbert Iundt; Jean-Yves Ruszniewski/TempSport/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Okay, fine, this wasn't at the Olympics or in service of them at ALL, but AS IF I wasn't going to show you the sprinting hoodie. I love her. This took such confidence, because she absolutely knew people would write this off as antics unless she backed it up on the track -- and she ALSO absolutely knew she WOULD back it up on the track.