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The 10 greatest performances in the history of athletics:
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1 Roger Bannister
The Mile, 1954
For many years, physiologists said that it was inconceivable for an athlete to run under four minutes for the mile. Everyone began to think that a four minute mile would be a barrier that no human would be capable of breaking. Many world class athletes allowed the mythical time to rule them.
However, a young Oxford medical student, Roger Bannister, was not deterred from his goal to be the first to break the barrier. As others backed down from the challenge, he looked forward for his chance to conquer the barrier that had gained control of the world's elite.
On May 6, 1954,Bannister stepped onto the track at Oxford where he would accomplish one of the greatest feats in history. It was a cold and windy day, but that would not stop him from reaching his goal. He toed the line along with the other runners. He crossed the finish line and stumbled to the ground. His effort to break the barrier left him drained of all his energy. His identity hinged on the time of the watch. If he succeeded he would be hailed as one of the greatest runners ever, but if he did not who would remember his name?
A calm came over the crowd as the announcer read Bannister's time. "Three Minutes......" The crowd erupted in cheers and applause that drowned out what the announcer was saying. He had run 3min 59.4sec.
Current world record: 3min 43.13sec Hicham El Guerrouj (Mor)
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2 Bob Beamon
Long jump, 1968
After 1968, sports historians began to use the word 'beamonesque' to describe a sporting feat that was dramatically superior to any that went before. In that year, at the Mexico Olympics, American long jumper Bob Beamon had leapt straight into the record books with a mammoth jump of 8.90 metres. Beamon soared into the thin air of Mexico City (many of the records were attributed to the high altitude) and landed too far for the sighting device to be used. The steel tape had to be used to measure the distance.
Then came the announcement and the commentators, spectators and officials could not believe it. The previous record had been beaten by almost 60 centimetres. Beamon was an orphan who was part of a tough New York street gang in his teen years. What saved the youngster was his grandmother's encouragement and the faith reposed in his long jumping ability by his coaches. He said, "They didn't give up on me." Beamon's record stood for more than two decades and was broken only in 1991.
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3 Jesse Owens
Four world records in 45minutes, 1935
Everyone knows about Jesse Owens's four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics but athletics experts reckon his performance at the previous year's Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor was better. There, he had set three world records and tied a fourth, all in a span of about 45 minutes. Owens had a bad back but persuaded the coach to allow him to run the 100-yards where he tied the world record of 9.4. This convinced Owens' coach to allow him to participate in his other events. A mere fifteen minutes later, he took part in the long jump. Prior to jumping, Jesse put a handkerchief at 26 feet 21/2 inches, the distance of the world record. After such a bold gesture, he soared to a distance of 26 feet 81/4 inches, shattering the old world record by nearly 6 inches. Disregarding the pain, Owens proceeded to set a new world record in the 220y in 20.3, beating the old record by three-tenths of a second. Within the next 15 minutes, Owens was ready to compete in another event, this one being the 220y low hurdles. In his final event, Owens' official time was 22.6 seconds. This time would set yet another world record, beating the old record by four-tenths of a second.
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4 Florence Griffith Joyner
100m, 1988
A good, but not great sprinter, Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988 transformed herself into Flo-Jo and arguably the greatest female athlete in history. The defining moment came at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis when, wearing a dazzling one-legged running suit, she ran 10.49 for 100m.
That is a time better than many nations men's 100m record. By the time she got to the Olympics in Seoul people were so skeptical about her performances that when she set a world record of 200m, the press box remained totally silent. But her marks are in the record books and appear set to stay there for a good while longer yet.
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5 Ben Johnson
100m, 1988
Seoul - September 24, 1988 - With his finger stuck up in the air and a disdainful look at his opponents, Ben Johnson has just easily beaten the greatest sprint field in the history of athletics. The digital clock reads '9.79'. Johnson has not just destroyed his opponents - he has humiliated them. Even now I can remember of shock that reverberated around the Olympic Stadium in Seoul and on millions of television sets around the world that day. The fact it all turned out to be an illusion, a trick pulled out of a chemists bottle, doesn't lessen that moment. "Hey man, I didn't do anything no-one else was doing back then," Johnson told The Observer last year. "I deserve my place in history."
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6 Emil Zatopek
Triple Olympic gold, 1952
The Czechoslovakian army major had already won the 5000 and 10,000m at the Helsinki Olympics when he lined up for the marathon - an event he had never previously run. He decided to run with the favourite, Jim Peters of Britain, on the basis that he knew what he should be doing. But after a few miles Zatopek turned to Peters and asked: "Are you are sure we are going fast enough?" Attempting to psyche him out, Peters replied: "No, we should be going faster". At that point Zatopek took off to win his third gold medal of the games, the only man ever to achieve such a unique treble.
"Looking back I must have been mad," Zatopek said shortly before his death last year. "But I'm glad I was mad because I look back and I can be proud of what I achieved that day."
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7 Fanny Blankers-Koen
Four gold medals, 1948
In 1948, Fanny Blankers-Koen was furious. A newspaper story said she was too old to compete in the coming London Olympics. So the Dutchwoman went to the Olympics. She competed in 11 races over seven days. By the end of the games, she was undefeated in every event. The "Flying Dutch housewife" had won individual gold medals in the 100 and 200m races and the 80m hurdles, and anchored the 4X100-metre relay team to victory. The only reason why she did not come away with more gold medals was that an International Olympic Committee ruling restricted individual entry to three events. The Dutchwoman, considered too old for the Olympics, had waived the long jump and javelin, events in which she held the world-record.
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8 Uwe Hohn
Javelin, 1984
Few athletes can claim to have set a world record which has forced the authorities to change the entire nature of their event but that is what East Germany's Uwe Hohn did in 1984. He threw the javelin a staggering 104.80 metres, almost the full length of a stadium, putting the lives of spectators at risk. The International Amateur Athletic Federation decided quickly that the javelin had to be redesigned to under-perform. This was done by moving the centre of mass forward by four centimetres which meant the javelin could not fly so far, giving the opportunity for less muscled athletes such as the Czech Republic's Jan Zelezny to dominate instead of powerhouses such as Hohn.
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9 Michael Johnson
200m, 1996
Michael Johnson is one of the most introspective, self-contained sportsman you will ever meet, not prone to showing any kind of emotion. But there is a wonderful picture of him after crossing the line at the Olympics in Atlanta to win the 200m and seeing the time of 19.32 on the clock. His face is a mixture of joy, wonderment and disbelief. It was one shared by everyone there that night. At first everyone was just pleased to be there to see an unprecedented 200-400m double but then it dawned on them - and him - at what he had achieved. A world record that will survive for 50 years.
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10 wang junxia
10,000m, 1993
Fuelled by a diet of turtles blood and a brutal regime of running a marathon a day at altitude by coach Ma Junren, in 1993 Wang Junxia set times that most top-class male runners would be happy to call personal bests. Her 10,000m time of 29min 31.78sec, set during China's national games, was front-page news around the world. A few days later Wang also set a world record for the 3000m that still stands. No non-Chinese runner has ever approached her times.
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