Have you been watching the Olympics?

(To the right: Frank Shorter's Olympic silver and gold medals. The silver medal is from the men's marathon in the 1976 Montreal Games. The gold medal is from the men's marathon in the 1972 Munich games)

So, have you been watching the Olympics this year? I love watching the games. I can't get enough of it. I'll watch field hockey, handball, archery, equestrian, anything. NBC is producing 3600 hours of Olympic programming. It's on 24 hours a day on different channels. Driving my wife crazy. But, this type of competition only comes every 4 years.

And, I like it better when it's in a different country than the United States. I like to travel to begin with so I find it fascinating to a get a glimpse of what life in another country is all about. An example was watching the women's marathon. The coverage showed aerial views of the Forbidden City where part of the course passed. I had no idea of how enormous it was.

So far, Michael Phelps has been the big story of these Games. Usain Bolt winning the 100 meters in 9.69 seconds (and easing up at the end!) is another great story. Walsh and May in beach volleyball is another story I've been following. So, what things will you remember from these Olympics? And, what great memories do you have from Olympics past? Post your comments and let me know.

Below are some memories I have from each of the Olympics I can remember. (Yes, I CAN remember the 1968 Mexico City Games, wiseguy!) These are good memories from the Olympics. Believe me, I remember the terrorist attacks on the Israeli athletes in 1972 and the explosion at the 1996 Atlanta Games. And, it's interesting to note, that I remember more from Olympics in 1968 and 1972 than I do from more recent Olympics. But here's the list:

1968 (Mexico City): Bob Beamon jumping over 29 feet in the long jump, thus, shattering the world record by almost 2 feet (I remember getting a tape measure out when I was kid and shocked what 29 feet looks like); Kip Keino, from Kenya, defeating Jim Ryun in 1500 meters. It was Kenya's coming out party on the long distance stage; The 'Fosbury Flop' in high jumping; George Foreman winning the superheavyweight gold medal; Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their gloved fist to protest American civil rights. (Interestingly, there is a statue on the San Jose State University campus in California honoring that moment in time)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ric1DJJ5WAg (Mexico City 1500 meter final)

1972 (Munich): I was 13 at the time. It's probably the Games I remember most. Mark Spitz 7 gold medals; Frank Shorter coming into the Olympic stadium and there was a ringer in front of him. I remember Eric Segal, author of 'Love Story' and college classmate of Shorter's at Yale, was doing the commentary of the men's marathon. He was yelling on television (I'm paraphrasing here) , 'Frank, he's a fake. You won! Don't worry about him!'; Dave Wottle (and his hat) winning the 800 meters; the US-USSR men's basketball gold medal game. The US team thinking they had won only to have the referees put 3 seconds back on the clock. Eventually, the Soviets scored on a layup and won the game. The US team refused the silver medals and they still sit in a vault in Switzerland; The 400 meter gold and silver medalists Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett of the United States chatted while the Star-Spangled Banner played. There was a huge uproar over this as they were deemed disrespectful and were banned from ever competing in the Olympics again; Olga Korbut and her amazing routine on the uneven bars. (Also what was true was the across the board scoring in the Games from judges in the Eastern Bloc countries versus those from the West. Blantantly political. Usually, a country like Hungary or Czechoslovakia were the swing votes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOOmFgBAdIA (Olga Korbut's routine at Munich)

1976 (Montreal): African nations boycotting because New Zealand played rugby against South Africa. They wanted New Zealand excluded from the games. Nadia Comaneci and her perfect 10 in gymnastics; East German women swimmers; Michael and Leon Spinks, Sugar Ray Leonard boxing for gold; Alberto Juantorena of Cuba winning the 400 and 800 meter; Lasse Viren of Finland winning the 5 and 10k; John Naber swimming for gold; Bruce Jenner captured gold for the decathlon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tl0kE7Oels (Nadia Comaneci 1976 Olympics)

1980 (Moscow): Jimmy Carter announcing the US boycott of these Games in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. I was 21 at the time and remember thinking this would have been 'my' Games if I was ever good enough. I feel sorry for the athletes that lost their moment in history. American television didn't show any of the Olympics except for some highlights on the news.

1984 (Los Angeles): The Eastern Bloc (including the Soviets) boycotted these games in response to the Moscow games. (Only meant more medals for the US!); China participating for the first time in decades; Mary Lou Retton in gymnastics; Carl Lewis winning the 100, 200, 4x100, and the long jump; Daley Thompson of Britian winning back-to-back Olympic decathlon titles; Evelyn Ashford (100 and 4x100 relay) and Valerie Brisco-Hooks (200, 400 and 4x400) dominated the track for the U.S.; Joan Benoit winning the first women's Olympic marathon; The British domination of the middle distance events with the likes of Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, and Steve Cram; Edwin Moses winning the 400 m hurdles, a feat he first did in the 1976 Montreal games and his long (over 100+) unbeaten streak; Mary Decker-Slaney being tripped by Zola Budd of South Africa in the 3000 m and all the controversy that followed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRL-xO7FW64 (Mary Decker's fall in the 1984 Olympics)

1988 (Seoul): Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and FloJo (Florence Griffith-Joyner) in track and field; Carl Lewis still winning the long jump; Ben Johnson of Canada 'winning' the 100 only to have his title stripped because of steroids (the shape of things to come); Greg Louganis hitting his head on the diving board but still managing to win a gold medal; Roy Jones Jr losing to a South Korean boxer for the gold medal in a very questionable decision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kPNjkGf4vM (Greg Louganis hits his head in the '88 Olympics)

1992 (Barcelona): The first time there is no USSR team; the lighting of the Olympic flame with an archer from the field shooting a flaming arrow above the torch; the US basketball 'Dream Team' that destroyed the competition (everyone thinking it will be 50 years before another basketball, besides USA would win gold); Gail Devers (with her long fingernails) overcoming Grave's Disease to win the 100m; Britian's Derek Redmond injuring himself in the 400 meter and his father running on the track to make sure his son finished the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vyLmkOesOE (Lighting the Olympic torch in Barcelona)

1996 (Atlanta): I always wondered why Atlanta got these Games. Nothing against Atlanta, I've never really been there before. (They beat out Athens, Toronto, Melbourne and Manchester for the games); Muhammed Ali lighting the torch; Donovan Bailey from Canada winning the 100; Michael Johnson and his 'golden shoes' winning the 200 and 400; Carl Lewis winning, yet again, the long jump; Gail Devers (again!) winning the 100m; Kerri Strug vaulting on an injured ankle and landing on one foot winning the gold for the US women's gymnastic team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFn47a_Ny0Y (Kerri Strug's vault for gold in '96 Olympics)

2000 (Sydney): Cathy Freeman, an Australian Aboriginal, winning the 400 m in front of the home crowd; Marion Jones winning the 100 and 200. Sadly, she was stripped of the medals because of admitted steroid use later; swimming sensation Ian Thorpe from Australia; Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie winning the 10k; Rulon Gardner winning gold in Greco-Roman wrestling against a Russian who hadn't lost a match since 1987.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PLD-Odp130 (Cathy Freeman's 400 m final in 2000 Olympics)

2004 (Athens): Justin Gatlin (100), Shawn Crawford (200) and Jeremy Wariner (400) winning gold; the US men's basketball team that won bronze. This really wasn't a team but a bunch of top NBA players thrown together. Lessons learned that you need a 'team' to win and not necessarily the best players in the league. Michael Phelps just starting out and Ian Thorpe again; Liu Xiang winning the 110m hurdles becoming the first from China to win a track and field event in the Olympics; Deena Kastor winning bronze and Meb Keflezighi winning silver for the US in marathon; how hot it was for the women's marathon event; Paula Radcliffe dropping out of the marathon; Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima , from Brazil, who was winning the men's marathon with less than six miles to go, being pushed by a defrocked Irish priest into a crowd. He wound up with the bronze medal instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx1TDFV5Vhk (Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima being pushed off the marathon course)

Share your memories of the Olympics. I hope you are enjoying watching them as much as I do. See you in London in 2012.