Before Michelle Kwan was forced to bid a sad adieu to her gold-medal dreams... before Ted Ligety came from nowhere to win the alpine combined... and before the world had ever heard of a Flying Tomato, these Winter Olympians gave TV-viewers much to talk about and forever remember.
1. Heiden's Fantastic Five — Lake Placid 1980In the speed-skating equivalent of running — and winning — a sprint, a mile, a marathon and nearly everything in between, Eric Heiden achieved what fellow Olympian Dan Jansen calls "the single greatest feat in the history of sports." Hard to disagree. Looking more superhero than mere mortal in his skin-tight uniform, the thunder-thighed skating machine collected five individual gold medals, setting four Olympic records and smashing a world record in his last event, the grueling 10,000-meter race, by more than six seconds. His incredible accomplishment has never been duplicated.
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Before Michelle Kwan was forced to bid a sad adieu to her gold-medal dreams... before Ted Ligety came from nowhere to win the alpine combined... and before the world had ever heard of a Flying Tomato, these Winter Olympians gave TV-viewers much to talk about and forever remember.
1. Heiden's Fantastic Five — Lake Placid 1980In the speed-skating equivalent of running — and winning — a sprint, a mile, a marathon and nearly everything in between, Eric Heiden achieved what fellow Olympian Dan Jansen calls "the single greatest feat in the history of sports." Hard to disagree. Looking more superhero than mere mortal in his skin-tight uniform, the thunder-thighed skating machine collected five individual gold medals, setting four Olympic records and smashing a world record in his last event, the grueling 10,000-meter race, by more than six seconds. His incredible accomplishment has never been duplicated.
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I haven't seen this kind of drama at the Olympics since Tonya Harding. On Sunday, figure skater Michelle Kwan bowed out of the Torino games after straining a groin muscle during her first practice a day earlier. "I respect the Olympics too much to compete [if] I don't feel I can be at my best," she told the Associated Press. Knowing it had just lost its most recognizable star, NBC tried to keep the ice princess front and center by offering her a commentator gig; however, she declined. Emily Hughes has been tapped to replace Kwan on the U.S. team.
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