{"id":491,"date":"2008-08-11T09:44:51","date_gmt":"2008-08-11T16:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bspcn.com\/2008\/08\/11\/the-5-most-chill-inducing-olympic-moments\/"},"modified":"2008-08-11T09:44:51","modified_gmt":"2008-08-11T16:44:51","slug":"the-5-most-chill-inducing-olympic-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2008\/08\/11\/the-5-most-chill-inducing-olympic-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Most Chill-Inducing Olympic Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Daniel Murphy<\/a><\/p>\n

There are many reasons to watch the Olympics.<\/strong> Maybe you’re all caught up on Mad Men<\/em> and need something to watch with dinner. Maybe you attend lots of fancy cocktail parties where stories of international heroics go over real well. Heck, maybe you just need an in with the new Australian office assistant and working in “breaststroke” is just the ticket.<\/p>\n

But the real reason is that deep down inside you know that there’s nothing like a global sporting competition to create some memorable Morgan Freeman voiceover moments.<\/p>\n

And sure, like most things for which we are nostalgic The Olympics seem to have lost their luster. In an age where NASA is designing swimsuits, there seems little hope for the upset victory or the unexpected burst of brilliance. But like these videos prove, the truth is that something exceptional can happen at any given moment. And unless you’re a professional crime fighter or on the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition<\/em> design team, those chill moments are few and far between.<\/p>\n

Worst case scenario, you have something to chat about with your Chinese delivery guy.<\/p>\n

Derek Redmond<\/h2>\n

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Backstory:<\/strong> British runner Derek Redmond is a favorite (or should I say favourite) in the 400m at the ’92 Barcelona games. Halfway through the semi-final race, he pulls up lame with a torn hamstring.<\/p>\n

Goosebump moment:<\/strong> When most normal people would have cried for their mother (and a handful of Vicodin) Redmond scraped himself up off the track, determined to complete the race in a painful limp. Bonus goosebumps for his father jumping out from the stands and helping his son across the finish line, something that I thought only happened in episodes of Beverly Hills 90210<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Kerri Strug<\/h2>\n

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Backstory:<\/strong> The U.S. women’s gymnastics’ team are close to defeating the mighty Russkies, but after two falls on the vault by teammate Dominique Moceanu, it all comes down to Strug.<\/p>\n

Goosebump moment:<\/strong> Despite a brutish German phonology, Strug becomes a household name. After injuring her ankle during her first vault, she decides to play through the pain and sticks her second attempt on one leg, sealing gold for America. Even though men throughout the world admire the courage and strength of the 18-year old girl, the phrase “to Strug it” never catches on. (Which is a total shame. “I closed my thumb in the copy machine at work yesterday, but still went out last night and took home Gina from accounting.” “Wow, you totally Strugged it.” That just works.)<\/p>\n

1980 Men’s Hockey Team<\/h2>\n

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Backstory:<\/strong> More Cold War-like competition, but this time it was a collection of amateur, collegiate puckheads from America versus world powerhouse USSR (who had beaten the NHL All Stars 6-0 just a year before).<\/p>\n

Goosebump moment:<\/strong> In a back and forth game, the Americans go up 4-3 on a goal by captain Mike Eruzione with ten minutes to play. After that, goalie Jim Craig withstood a barrage of scoring chanc– Oh who gives crap, you saw the movie. The point is, if you don’t get chills watching the final five seconds of that game, then I’ve got some bad news for you: You’re dead inside.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Ali<\/h2>\n

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Backstory:<\/strong> Ali (then Cassius Clay) won the light-heavyweight gold medal in the ’60 Rome Olympics, but threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after facing discrimination upon his return to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Goosebump moment:<\/strong> Twelve years after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Ali takes the stage to light the Olympic torch at the ’96 Atlanta games. He’s also presented with a replacement gold meal for the one he so bitterly tossed in a river 36 years ago. If you’re the type of person that’s prone to making grandiose statements relying on cheesy wordplay, you may call it “the Muhammad Ali of chill moments.”<\/p>\n

Eric Moussambani<\/h2>\n

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Backstory:<\/strong> After gaining entry to the ’00 Sydney games via a wildcard drawing designed to benefit developing nations, the unlikely entrant Moussambani “wins” his 100m freestyle qualifying heat when his two competitors are disqualified for false starts.<\/p>\n

Goosebump moment:<\/strong> OK, so maybe you don’t have goosebumps just watching him flail around in the water. But now think about how up until eight months ago, Moussambani had never swam before. And how he trained in a hotel pool. And how, despite the fact that he didn’t even break the 200m world record, he still competed and proudly represented his country. And imagine Chariots of Fire playing in the background. There you go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Daniel Murphy There are many reasons to watch the Olympics. Maybe you’re all caught up on Mad Men and need something to watch with dinner. Maybe you attend lots of fancy cocktail parties where stories of international heroics go over real well. Heck, maybe you just need an in with the new Australian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}