Moments of Melbourne, Part 4 - Monday, November 26th, 1956

Blonde hair, a wild stride with highly lifted knees, and - most of all - a wide open mouth. These were the trademarks of the biggest female star of the Melbourne Olympics. On Monday, November 26th, Betty Curhbert took home the first of her three gold medals in the sprint - at the age of just 18 (pictures: The Australian, The Famous People).

The Australian fans had had high expectations for the women's track events, but they did not really have the "Golden  Girl" from Sydney on their minds. Shirley de la Hunty was expected to be the star of the Games. She indeed defended her title in the 80 meters hurdles, but before that, she had bowed out in the heats of the 100 meters dash. It was a shocking moment for hometown fans, all the more as Cuthbert was considered to be a 200 meters specialist. In this event, she had set a new world record at 23.2 seconds two months before the Games.

But with Strickland sidelined, Cuthbert rose to the occasion, holding off East Germany's Christa Stubnick and teammate Marlene Matthews to capture the gold. Three days later in the 200, the outcome was the same. When Cuthbert anchored her team's relay team to the gold, her status as a natonal heroine was secured. All of her running with that typically wide opened mouth, about which Cuthbert used to say: "Everything I did that required effort, I opened my mouth. Even to catch a ball, I opened my mouth."

The hype that followed was a little to much for a shy and slightly build 18 year old. Cuthbert indeed had no easy time in the years to follow. Hampered by a hamstring injury, she was eliminated in the heas at the 1960 Rome Olympics and retired. Two years later, Cuthbert had a terific comeback, winning the Commonwealth title in the 400 meters. At the same distance, she crowned her career with a fourth Olympic gold in 1964 at the Tokyo Games (picture: ABC).

A fighter that she had been on the track, Cuthbert also was in her later life. In 1974, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that forced her into a wheelchair. But that did not prevent her from carrying the Olympic torch into Stadium Australia at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Games, showing off her trademark optimism and perseverance. It was one of many memorable moments of the Millennium Olympics (picture: The Australian).

News of the day: Bob Richards (USA) defends his pole vault title, Tom Courteney (USA) gets the 800 meters gold. +++ Norway's Eigil Daniels wins the javelin throw with a new world record of 85.71 meters. +++ The USA and the USSR continue there weightlifting domination: Tommy Kono (USA/Light heavyweight), Arkadi Vorobiov (USSR/Middle heavyweight), and the "Tennessee Titan" Paul Anderson (USA/Heavyweight) win the last three golds. +++ Fencer Christian d'Oriola of France repeats his win in the individual foil competition.

Franziska van Almsick - The Unfulfilled Dream, Part 3

Some of the greatest athletes of the world have tried in vain to win an Olympic gold medal. We portray them in this series.

The name of her homepage says it all: Franzi - to Germans it's as simple as that. Even at age 38, Franziska van Almsick is called by and famous for her teenage nickname. It has become a household brandmark all over the country, in TV spots and the yellow press. But "Franzi" means business: When she criticizes Germany's swimmers as a TV expert or works as a fundraiser for the national athletes help network Deutsche Sporthilfe, there is nothing sweetheart about the woman, who - as a teenage girl - became the country's first post-unfication sports icon.

Still, one dark spot remains in van Almsick's career: She never won an Olympic gold.

When van Almsick (picture: Augsburger Allgemeine), one last product of the GDR's youth sports development program, burst onto the international swimming scene in 1992, she was just 14 years of age. On the early evening of July 27th, she stood on the starting block for the finals of the 200 meters freestyle at the Barcelona Olympics, having qualified in the fastest time. The German media were already nuts about their new darling from Berlin after she had taken bronze in the 100 meters 24 hours before. There was a real chance that the little girl could take it all.

But it was not to be. Van Almsick swam ahead of the pack for almost 180 meters, but on the home stretch, she zigzagged a little through the pool, perhaps due to a lack of experience. In lane five, American Nicole Haislett sneaked by the German wunderkind and beat van Almsick by one tenth of a second.

Nobody would have expected that this was going to be the closest van Almsick would ever get to an Olympic gold. What followed was a career of high drama with a lot of titles, records and profits from commercials, but no Olympic gold.

After becoming world champion and world record holder at Rome in 1994, van Almsick was again considered a heavy favourite for the 1996 Atlanta Games. But again, she could not stand the pressure in her best event, losing the 200 meters to Costa Rica's Claudia Poll, who was of German descent.

Things got even harder for van Almsick four years later at Sydney. Out of shape and with visible overweight, she had no shot at a medal. A German tabloid called her "Franzi van Speck" and a "pig". She rebounded from the disaster with another world record at the 2002 European Championships in her hometown of Berlin, but finished only fifth in the 200 meters freestyle at the 2004 Athens Games. When she retired afterwards, she had collected ten Olympic medals - four silvers, six bronzes, no gold.

When asked about that missing gold in August 2016, the now mother of two had no regrets: "For my personality, it was very good not to have achieved something in life.  I am happy and thankful for the life I live, I have two healthy kids, a wonderful family, I live humble - and I surely do this because I did not fulfil my biggest dream in life." (picture: dpa)

The Best of Summer - 4th Place: Sydney 2000

On the evening of October, 1st, 2000, Juan Antonio Samaranch one final time used the closing ceremony of an Olympic Games to called them "the best ever". The outgoing president of the International Olympic Comitee had said this many times before. On this night, many TV viewers all over the world may have agreed with him for the first time.

Even if Sydney didn't see the best Games in history, at least they were brilliant, because more than anything else,  they were Australian. The country is one of the few having participated in all Summer Olympics since 1896, her genuine love for sports is legendary and was also the big story of Sydney 2000. The huge crowds and the fantastic atmosphere created a stark contrast to the heavily commercial 1996 Atlanta edition.

Furthermore, the "Games of the New Millenium" - as the local organisers had dubbed them - raised world wide attention for the aboriginal heritage of Australia. When 400 meters runner Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame and took home the gold in front of 115,000 roaring spectators, it was the moment when Australia for the first time seemed to come to terms with her own, often neglected past. Without doubt, it was one of the most emotional moments in any Olmpic Games:

 

Besides the Freeman saga, Sydney saw the re-birth of Down Under as a swimming powerhouse. Aussies had ruled the pool from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, featuring icons like Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser,  the Konrads siblings, or Shane Gould.  In the Bassin at Homebush Bay, they rolled over the rest of the world, led by Ian Thorpe. He one two golds on the first day of competition,  including the 4 x 1000 Meter freestyle relay. The United States had always won this event from its inception in 1960, with the exception of the boycott Games in 1980 at Moscow. Before the race,  American swimmer Gary Hall Jr had boasted, hid team was going to "smash the Australians like guitars". When  the hometown boys had won the race and broken tell world record, they played air guitar on the starting block. No wonder the crowd went  wild (picture: The Australian).

But even for the "Thorpedo", not everything went perfect. In the 200 meters freestyle, he lost out to Dutch Pieter van den Hoogenband. Four years later in Athens, Thorpe took revenge in the "Race of the century" that was the first to prominently feature the young Michael Phelps:

While pictoresque settings fot outdoor events - beach volleyball at Bondi Beach, triathlon at the Opera House, and sailing in front of Harbour Bridge - gained acclaim all over the world, Greco-Roman Wrestling saw the biggest upset for decades. Russian super heavyweight Alexander Kareline had not lost a single match in three consecutive victorious Olympics. American Rulon Gardner made "King Kong" loose his grip for one single moment - and Karelines streak was over.

Besides great sports and only few controversies,  Sydney organizers were the first at least trying to stage "Green Games". Not every ecological promise was kept, but a standard for future hosts was set. No wonder the closing ceremony was a big rocking party. Australia had delivered.