Summer Olympics Legends

Summer Olympics Legends

Introduction Sports fans the world over gear up for the Summer Olympics every four years. In modern Olympics, more than 10, 000 athletes from 200 countries compete in 300 events. Athletes run, jump, swim, and much more to win gold, silver, and bronze medals. Some athletes may earn a place in the record books. A few may even join the ranks of these Summer Olympics legends.

Shoeless Wonder: Abebe Bikila (1932-1973) Marathon Ethiopia On your mark, get set, go! The Olympic marathon starts like any other race. But in the marathon, runners go, go, and keep going! The marathon is a long-distance race. It is 26 miles (42 km) long. You could probably walk 26 miles in about eight hours, plus time for breaks. Marathon runners cover 26 miles in a little over two hours, and they don't take breaks.

The marathon race at the 1960 Olympics was unforgettable. Abebe Bikila was in second place with less than a mile to go. Then he pulled away and won by 200 meters. Plus, he set an Olympic record-running barefoot! Bikila trained by running barefoot over the countryside of Ethiopia, a country in Africa. Shoes, he said, hurt his feet. Four years later, Bikila won the marathon again. This time he wore socks and shoes and set a new world record.

Golden Boy: Mark Spitz(1950-) Swimming USA The dark-haired swimmer with the mustache bragged he would win six gold medals at the 1968 Olympics. He ended up winning two gold, one silver, and one bronze medal. Quite a feat! But it was not good enough for Mark Spitz. He trained hard for the next four years.

At the 1972 games, Mark Spitz did not brag. He entered four individual swimming races, including his specialty stroke, the butterfly. He also swam in three team relay races. Spitz won seven gold medals, an Olympic record. Plus, he set new world records in every race. Now that is something to brag about. Decathlon Double: Daley Thompson (1958-) Decathlon United Kingdom (Great Britain) Daley Thompson was one of the best of the best. He won the decathlon in 1980. Then, in 1984, he won it again. He is only the second person in the history of the Olympics to win the decathlon twice. In 1988, at the ripe “ old" age of 30, he still performed well enough to come in fourth place in sports' most grueling event.