The Greatest Ever Race......?

[Mick Mac]

1988 ... 100 metres men's final.

For me it's the greatest athletic event ever for sheer raw excitement.

Do I care if some of the participants were subsequently found to be on drugs. I'm not sure I do care. It does not reduce the excitement I felt at the time.

The greatest 10 seconds in sport, ever.

[Lawboy]

In that case (and the wife is out) I suggest a film on BBC 4 right now. Some were found to be on drugs, the others managed to wing it (although some from GB did not wing it forever....)

[Mick Mac]

Yes - watched it, interesting that the dope investigator kept the samples from 1988, and on rechecking them with modern methods, found performance enhancers were rife at those 1988 games.

As one athlete put it, it was "cheat or get beat".

[Ridgley]

In 1936 summer Olympics in Germany James Owens won the race and it pissed off Hitler so much he did not want to shake his hand he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters.

[El Pibe]

"As one athlete put it, it was "cheat or get beat"."

..or as it turned out, get beat or drop dead before your time.

I think the last time I got excited about athletics was probably Daley's defence of his title in 1984.

I don't know if maybe the kempston/rubber key destroying game on the speccy might have been responsible for that.

1936 was probably before my time. My dad was about then but being bombed by Franco so had slightly more pressing concerns.

[KidKruger]

The best races for me were the mid-80's middle distance battles between (mainly) the UK athletes, Cram, Coe, Ovett and to an extent Peter Elliot. I'm talking 800m and 1500m. I think it was in summer 1985 Cram broke something like 5x World records in 6 weeks.

The period I mention includes the '84 and '88 Olympics, in which although I cannot remember the specifics, the heats and finals were top drawer if you like that distance.

I think during this period Carloz Lopez regained the World AAA Cross Country World title over (I think) 10,000m, he was 39 if I remember correctly.

[silverfox]

The Greatest Ever Race......?

The Tortoise and the Hare

[Jah Lush]

Back in the day when I worked on The Sporting Life I remember getting paid on a Thursday but had pissed it all up the wall by Saturday but I got a tip on a horse at 66-1. It was a dead cert. I'd heard all that before but I borrowed two quid off a colleague who was also backing it and told me to get on it, so I duly put the money down. The horse won. I can't remember the name of the horse or the race as it was such a long time ago (late 70s) but my winnings were equivalent to more than two weeks wages back then. Now as far as I'm concerned that was the greatest race ever.

[KidKruger]

Jah that puts my proposed races well in the shadows.

Humbled.