Athletics
The greatest moments in athletics.
9 moments in this segment.
- - Jesse Owens & Luz Long. August 1936. Berlin Olympics long jump. German Luz Long advises Jesse Owens to put a marker before the takeoff board. Owens makes the qualifying jump, then wins gold. The two walked arm-in-arm afterward in front of Hitler's box.
- - Roger Bannister's Sub-4 Mile. May 6, 1954, Oxford. Roger Bannister breaks the 4-minute mile in 3:59.4, long believed physiologically impossible. The finishing-tape photograph remains the most reproduced track-athletics image ever.
- - Bob Beamon’s Leap. October 18, 1968. Beamon long-jumps 8.90m in Mexico City, beating the world record by 55cm, a mark that stood for 23 years.
- - Flo-Jo’s 100m World Record. July 16, 1988. Florence Griffith-Joyner runs 10.49, a women’s 100m world record that still stands decades later.
- - Derek Redmond and His Father. August 3, 1992, Barcelona. Derek Redmond tears his hamstring in the 400m semi-final. His father Jim climbs out of the stands and helps him finish the race. The most replayed sportsmanship moment in Olympic history.
- - Usain Bolt - Beijing 100m Win. August 16, 2008. Bolt wins Beijing Olympic 100m in 9.69, coasting the last 20 metres. The arms-out lightning-bolt pose became the most-copied sports celebration of the 21st century.
- - Usain Bolt - 9.58. August 16, 2009, Berlin World Championships. Bolt runs the 100m in 9.58, the world record that still stands. The most-replayed athletics race of the 21st century.
- - Mo Farah’s Super Saturday Double. August 4, 2012. On London 2012’s “Super Saturday,” Mo Farah wins 10,000m gold to a deafening home roar, the first of his distance double.
- - 2025 Marathon Gold by a Photo Finish. The men's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo ended in a sprint down the finishing straight, with Tanzania's Alphonce Felix Simbu edging Germany's Amanal Petros for gold. A marathon settled by a lean at the line is close to unheard of at a global championship.
