5 Olympians Who Made History

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The Olympics are always full of memorable moments. Viewers remember the incredible upset and how the underdog snatched victory from the favorite for the gold. Spectators comment on how an Olympian fell and missed their chance for gold. Sometimes, people talk about the politics or scandals on display as well. After all, who could forget the 2002 Salt Lake City figure skating scandal that caused the entire scoring system to be overhauled and replaced with the current system? How can anyone ignore the Refugee Team that marched in the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics? Such moments showcase the best and the worst of the Olympics.

While scandals and politics sometimes dominate the Olympics, the Games are meant to be when the athletes truly shine. In most cases, the Olympians manage to hold on to the spotlight. Every now and then, however, there is an athlete who truly steals the show and takes the Games by storm. These incredible competitors etch their names into the history of their sport but also into the history books at large. They captured the world’s attention during their Games, and many of them continue to be mentioned by Olympic commentators today. Here are five Olympians who made history.

Jesse Owens

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In 1936, Jesse Owens repeatedly made history at the Berlin Summer Olympics. Owens won the gold in the 100 meter dash, the long jump, the 200 meter sprint and the 4x100 relay. This quartet of medals was not duplicated by another Olympian until Carl Lewis repeated Owens’s historic feat at the Los Angeles Olympics nearly 50 years later.

Just before his historic wins, Owens was visited by Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas athletic shoe company. He asked Owens to wear Adidas shoes, thus becoming the first sponsor for an African American athlete.

Jesse Owens made more than Olympic history in 1936. At a time when Hitler and Nazi officials were hoping to prove the dominance of their “Aryan race,” the domination of African-American Jess Owens was a difficult pill to swallow. Furthermore, Owens and his German competitor, Luz Long, took their lap of honor together. This famous moment became a symbol of the spirit of sportsmanship triumphing over the Nazi ideology that was on the rise in Germany.

Debi Thomas

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Figure skating has always been dominated by a few countries. In the 1980’s, nations from the Soviet Bloc held the sport in a stranglehold. It was in 1988, however, that African-American figure skater Debi Thomas had a chance to bring down the current queen of women’s figure skating, East Germany’s Katarina Witt.

During the 1986 World Figure Skating Championships, Thomas successfully chased down the gold and unseated Witt. It was the 1988 Olympics, however, that the world was watching. Thomas took a chance with a risky combination in her routine, two triple-revolution jumps in quick succession. Unfortunately, Thomas’s gamble did not quite pay off. Witt took back both her title as queen of the ice and the gold medal. Thomas took the bronze.

While Debi Thomas did not bring home a gold medal, she did make history at the Calgary Olympics. Thomas was not just the first African-American to win a figure skating medal. She was the first African-American to ever make the medal stand in a Winter Olympics.

Michael Phelps

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The American powerhouse captured the world’s attention before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when he announced his decision to try and make history. Michael Phelps declared that he was going to try and win an unprecedented eight gold medals in a single Olympics and surpass Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in a single Games. This ambitious feat would require Phelps to win every individual race he entered as well as two relays, one of which was expected to be won by the French team.

Prior to 2008, swimming was a sport of little interest to most of the world. When Phelps stepped up to the starting blocks in Beijing, however, the world was watching, and it was not just Americans who were rooting for the swimmer. Phelps managed to eek out a gold in the 100 meter butterfly, and Jason Lezak managed to take the relay team to an impossible victory in the men’s 4x100 relay. Phelps successfully claimed the gold in his other five individual events, and his teammates on the 4x100 medley relay helped him make history. Upon winning his eighth medal, Phelps said, “Records are always made to be broken, no matter what they are.”

Nicola Adams

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Great Britain’s Nicola Adams made history when she stood on the highest podium to receive the first ever gold medal in women’s boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in her home country. While winning the first gold in any Olympic sport is always a historic moment, Adams’s medal was one of the most important first golds. The 2012 London Summer Olympics were the first Olympics in which the same sports were offered for men and women across the board. Prior to the 2012 Games, there had always been at least one sport in which men could compete, but women had no equivalent. Boxing was the last sport which was men only. By winning the gold in London, Adams signed the death warrant for male only Olympic sports. Her final victory over Chinese boxer Ren Cancan was greeted by chants of “Nicola! Nicola!” from the ecstatic crowd. Adams would go on to defend her title in Rio 2016 and become the unchallenged queen of the ring.

Seun Adigun, Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere

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A trio of women from Nigeria made history in 2018 by becoming the first African team to compete in the bobsled in the Winter Olympics and the first Nigerians to every qualify for the Winter Games at all. Driver Seun Adigun and brakewomen Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere were ecstatic when they qualified for the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Seun Adigun is a veteran Olympian, but bobsled is new to her. Adigun’s previous Olympics were spent competing in track and field events, and she is a former champion of the 100 meter hurdles. Omeoga and Onwumere also have backgrounds in track and field. Nigerian-American Onwumere favored the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and 4x100 meter relay, and Omeoga ran sprinting events such as the 100 meters and 200 meters.

The bobsled team will also be joined by Nigerian Simidele Adeagbo in Pyeongchang. Adeagbo qualified for the 2018 Winter Games in Skeleton, and she will be the first African woman to compete in the sport.