Do You Know These Olympic Firsts?

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The Olympic Games are always exciting. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies are spectacles where host countries go above and beyond in everything from the performances to the official Olympic Torch. Millions of people stay up late to watch their country’s athletes enter the arena and kick off the Games. The events themselves, of course, dominate news channels, magazines, social media and water cooler conversation for weeks, and almost everyone has a favorite athlete.

Nothing, however, is more exciting than an Olympic first. Millions of people outside of America cheered on Usain Bolt when he became the first person to successfully defend his gold medals in both the 100 and 200 meter sprints, and media channels across the world went bananas when Michael Phelps clinched his historic eight gold medals in a single Games. Some Olympic firsts, however, have defined their sport and the Games for generations to come. After all, someone had to be the first to break the historic 10 second barrier in track, and there was a skier out there who was the first to do a front flip. After such game-changers happen for the first time, athletes everywhere scramble to bring their skills up to the same level, and audiences watch in awe as Olympians do things no one had ever seen before. Such Olympic firsts tend to stick in people’s minds for years to come. Do you know these Olympic firsts?

First Flips on Beam and Bars

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Gymnastics today is a display of unrivaled athleticism and flexibility. Tiny powerhouses like 4’9” Simone Biles routinely defy gravity as they leap, bound, cartwheel and flip across the balance beam. Artistic gymnastics, however, was not always the spectacle of athleticism it is today. Women’s Olympic Artistic Gymnastics was once focused largely on graceful movements and favored routines that were little more than glorified dances. That changed, however, when Olga Korbut performed in the Olympics in Munich in 1972. To the shock of announcers everywhere, Korbut made her way across the wooden balance beam and then did a back flip. According to Korbut, “Gymnasts treated the beam like a tightrope, I wanted it to be a floor.”

Korbut shocked the world once more when she took to the uneven bars. Her first attempt was poor, but she made history in the finals the next day. Korbut stood on the top beam and did a backflip off it, grabbing the bar on her way down. Such a move had never been seen before and was named the “Korbut Flip.”

First Successful Double Axel

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The famous axel jump was developed long before the Winter Games came about, and it was later expanded to include double and triple axel jumps. Despite its long history, thought, it was not until the 1948 St. Moritz Games that a skater successfully landed a double axel in a competition.

Dick Button successfully landed a double axel for the first time in practice the day before he was to compete in the free skating event. He performed the jump in his free skating routine and landed it successfully. He etched his name in history that day, and his success led to the double axel becoming a staple of figure skating.

The St. Moritz Winter Olympics were notable for multiple reasons, one of which was the political tension present at the Games. The 1948 Olympics were the first to take place since the pre-World War II Games of 1936. Switzerland was chosen as the host country largely due to its well-known neutrality, but the drain of World War II was still very present. Athletes often lacked equipment, and one notable case involved a Norwegian ski team that had to borrow the skis of the American team in order to compete. Despite this, the reinstatement of the Olympics were a victory for both a recovering world and for many athletes.

First Perfect 10

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Nadia Comaneci made gymnastics history in 1976 when she became the first athlete to be awarded a perfect 10. During the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Comaneci successfully completed a routine on the uneven bars that earned her a perfect 10. The scoreboard, however, was not programmed to display a perfect score. The board thus showed that Comaneci had been awarded a “1.00” to the bafflement of the crowd. As people realized what Comaneci’s score actually was, however, they gave her a rousing ovation. Comaneci would go on to receive six more perfect scores at the Montreal Games, but the image of the triumphant grin she wore after receiving her first 10 has become an iconic image.

Comaneci would go on to compete in the 1980 Olympics where she tied for the All-Around gold with Soviet Nellie Kim. Ten years after the “All Communist Olympics” of 1980, Comaneci would risk her life defecting from Romania and successfully escape to the United States.

First Set of 5 Gold Medals

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The entire world cheered for the American swimmer Michael Phelps when he won his historic eight gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was Eric Heiden who first took home a full set of medals. Heiden is one of very few speed skaters to have successfully won both distance and sprint events in a competition. He is also the first person to win five gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

Heiden’s five gold medals are even more impressive given what they mean in the speed skating world. Heiden won his five golds at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, and there were only five speed skating events. Beyond sheer number of medals, Heiden quite literally swept his entire sport by placing first in the 500, 1000, 1500, 5000 and 10000 meter speed skates. His extraordinary abilities in both sprinting and long-distance events has led him to be called the best speed skater in history.

First Olympian to Break the 10 Second Barrier

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The 100 meter dash is one of the world’s favorite events to watch during the Summer Olympics, and it is one of the most glamorized events in Track and Field. The winner of the 100 meter dash is often called the “Fastest Man in the World,” a title almost all sprinters covet. The difference between taking home the gold and missing the podium entirely is often a matter of hundredths of a second, and every step counts in the race. For decades, however, all the final times were above 10 seconds, but in 1968 the winning time started with a nine.

Jim Hines of the United States successfully broke the 10 second barrier in the 100 meter sprint at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. His incredible race was part of what was dubbed the “Night of Speed” where Ronnie Smith and Charlie Greene also broke the 10 second barrier, thought their times did not have the official FAT mark. As such, it would be more than 10 years before there was another Olympian who successfully broke the 10 second barrier.