What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July?
Jesse Owens Wins Gold In Nazi Germany
With the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, Hitler hoped that Aryan supremacy would be on display for the world to see. Jesse Owens had other plans. Owens won four gold medals at the '36 games and returned to America a national hero.
Image by Associated Press / AP
The Miracle On Ice
The Soviet hockey team had won gold in every Olympics since 1964. They would go on tours where they would regularly annihilate NHL competition. So since the 1980 US hockey team was decidedly not an NHL team, but rather a group of college players and no-names, no one expected the US to have a shot. But that's why they play the games. The US Team shocked the world and skated to victory as Al Michaels shouted, "Do you believe in miracles?!"
(Sports Illustrated / Heinz Kluetmeier)
Michael Phelps Wins Eight Gold Medals In A Single Olympics
No one has ever won more gold medals at a single Olympic games than Michael Phelps did in China. The swimmer captured the nation's imagination for 16 days in the summer of 2008, and graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline "The Alltime Olympian."
Image by Reuters Pictures / Reuters
Kerri Strug Overcomes An Injury To Win Gold
In 1996, the American female gymnastics team was battling it out with the Russians for the gold. The US needed Kerri Sturg to deliver a strong score on the vault to ensure victory. But on her first attempt Strug fell and injured her ankle. She fought through the pain and landed her second attempt perfectly, before lifting up her bad foot. The US won the gold.
Image by Susan Ragan / AP
