This Athlete Came Back From a Broken Neck to Win an Olympic Gold

With the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics quickly approaching, many people already have their hearts set on who will win. No one knows, however, who will get past the competition and take home medals for their countries. Even so, a century of Olympic competitions provides a history of athletes summoning that special competitive magic to deliver performances that shocked the Olympic world.

Sometimes, athletes endure serious injuries and setbacks before going to the Olympics and finding inspirational victory. Other times, athletes use their tried and true history of championships to raise the bar even more and take home multiple medals in a single game. Even rarer are the true underdogs, athletes who failed to rank or make any real showing before making it to the Olympics and defying all expectations. Whatever the case, there are several moments in history where athletes give performances that shocked the Olympic world. In this article, we will explore the background of such athletes and the circumstances that led to these upsets.

(For other great instances of triumph, explore the most iconic Summer Olympics moments in history.)

To compile a list of performances that shocked the Olympic world, 24/7 Tempo consulted various news, sports, and Olympics-specific publications including Olympics.com. Next, we picked athletic performances of singular importance, record-breaking, or ones that defied all expectations. After that, we confirmed aspects of each performance using sites like Britannica.

When the world entered the 1980 Winter Olympics, many favored the Soviet Union to win the hockey contest. With five of the six gold medals in hockey from the previous Olympics, the Russians seemed to be a sure thing. While the Soviet Union consisted of entirely professional players, the competing United States hockey team fielded amateur players. Only four of the US players had minor league experience.

Under the tense atmosphere of the Cold War, the US team played the Soviets. They finished the first period tied 2-2 with the Soviet Union. In the second period, the Soviets led with a 3-2 score. The third and final period saw the US score two more goals. They held on to the score and beat the Soviets in an incredible underdog upset. In the game's final moments, sports broadcaster Al Michaels shouted, "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" After the US beat Sweden to take home the gold, it served as an existential victory for the country and became one of the performances that shocked the Olympic World.

Well before American track and field athlete Jesse Owens entered the Olympics, tensions brewed. Concerned over host country Germany's treatment of non-white people, many called for all minority players to boycott the Olympics. Owens agreed, but Olympic committee president Avery Brundage threatened to declare him and other minorities "un-American agitators." As such, Owens traveled to Germany, where he changed history with one of the performances that shocked the Olympic World.

As many know, Adolf Hilter ran Germany at the time and put a strong emphasis on racist, phrenological-like positions regarding the superiority of the Aryan man. Instead, the African-American Owens entered the competition, broke multiple records, and won several Gold Medals. In the process, he befriended German competitor Carl Ludwig "Luz" Long. When the pair made a lap of honor after the competition, it flew defiantly in the face of Hilter's idea of superior Aryan genetics. It provided a triumphant victory of athletic prowess over Nazi ideology years before World War II commenced.

As a blue-collar kid from suburban Baltimore, swimmer Michael Phelps dreamed of becoming a great Olympian. True to his goal, Phelps embarked on a steady swimming career from an early age. While he qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics, he failed to take home any medals. The drive in him, however, only grew stronger. As the years passed, Phelps picked up more and more medals from various Olympics and Pan-American Games. However, his showing at the 2008 Summer Olympics became one of the performances that shocked the Olympic World.

From the outset of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Phelps showed remarkable promise. He even beat a personal record during the Olympic qualifying trials. Upon the start of the official swimming contests, Phelps broke away from everyone, racking up gold medals and world records with ease. By the end of the games, he had won an incredible eight gold medals. This put him in the rare and hallowed halls of other athletes who managed to win so big in a single Olympics. Upon winning his eighth and final medal, Phelps said, "Records are always made to be broken no matter what they are … Anybody can do anything that they set their mind to."

When American wrestler Rulon Gardner entered the 2000 Summer Olympics, many considered him an unknown. While he had picked up some medals at previous contests like the 1998 Winnipeg and 2000 Cali Pan American Championships, he wasn't battle-tested for the Olympics. To make matters worse, Gardner squared up against three-time reigning gold medalist Aleksandr Karelin. Not only was Karelin undefeated for 13 years, he had not given up a single point in six years.

All that changed, however, when Gardner faced off against him in one of the performances that shocked the Olympic world. Gardner surprised everyone after dominating Karelin in the Greco-Roman wrestling competition, ending Karelin's reign and taking home the gold in the process. While this made him a hero to Americans, especially in his hometown of Afton, Wyoming, the victory would be short-lived. A series of injuries and other complications prevented Gardner from ever entering another Olympic competition.

Long before his Olympic victory, Billy Mills suffered serious hardships. Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Mills became an orphan at 12 years old. While attending the Haskell Institute, he picked up running. This led to an athletic scholarship to the University of Kansas, where he three-time NCAA All-America cross-country runner. After that, Mills became a First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, a position he held when he entered the 1964 Summer Olympics.

Remarkably, Mills never owned a pair of shoes, instead relying on borrowed pairs up until the first night of the Olympics. Though an unknown, Mills kept up with competing runners during the 10.000m final race. In the final leg of the run, however, Mills broke away in a supernatural sprint, embarking on one of the performances that shocked the Olympic world. Not only did this give him the Gold medal, the first for any American in the 10.000m contest, but his winning time of 28:24.4 set a new Olympic record and won the hearts of fans across the world.

While some people face hardship and struggles on their way to Olympic triumph, many cards seemed stacked against South Korean Im Dong-Hyun from the outset. Born legally blind, Dong-Hyun suffered from 20/200 vision in his left eye and 20/100 vision in his right eye. This means he needs to be 10 times closer to see with his left eye what people with perfect vision can see normally. Nevertheless, he showed the world that a handicap means little after winning medals at successive Olympic Games.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he picked up a gold in team archery. He followed this with a gold in team archery at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, before taking home a bronze medal at the 2012 London Games. Less a singular moment than a series of triumphant performances that shocked the Olympic World, Dong-Hyun's placements illustrate that what seems like a debilitating handicap means little in the face of ability, grit, and determination to take home an Olympic gold medal.

As the 2004 Summer Olympics approached, many experts listed their favorites to win in the basketball competition. While countries like Serbia and Montenegro made the list the Argentinian team seemed destined for a middling performance. This seemed a surety with the reigning United States ready for the competition. Instead, the Argentinians upset all expectations and led their country to hoop victory in one of the performances that shocked the Olympic world.

Led by the incredible performances of players Ginobili, Scola, and Oberto, Argentina marched through the competition. First, they eliminated favorites Serbia and Montenegro during the group stage. During the semi-finals, however, they rose even higher. They knocked out the Greek team, before defeating the United States in a stunning upset. After that, they beat Italy in the final and took home the gold. This defied all expectations from even the most calculating of Olympic experts. Furthermore, it transformed them into the "golden generation" of Argentinian basketball, bringing victory for their country and inspiring a wave of young players to reach the same kind of basketball heights.

The number of athletes who compete successfully in different Olympic competitions is few and far between. Even rarer, however, is when a multi-talented athlete triumphs in more than one category. In the 2018 Winter Olympics, Ester Ledecka proved to be of that atypical breed in one of the performances that shocked the Olympic world. A well-versed snowboarder from an early age, the Czech-born Ledecka began making notable but ultimately middling showings in numerous games including World Championships and the European Youth Olympic Festival. One commentator marked her as an athlete to watch during the 2018 Winter Olympics. Nevertheless, she remained an average athlete after failing to rank in previous contests.

While known in snowboarding circles, Ledecka had never placed in any alpine skiing competition and stood 49th in the world rankings. Furthermore, when it came time for the Alpine skiing Super-G contest, she had to borrow skis to compete. Though many media outlets already declared Anna Veith as the winner, Ledecka finished with a 0.1-second lead, giving her a victory so shocking even she seemed surprised. After winning the parallel giant slalom contest, Ledecka became the first female athlete to win an Olympic Gold Medal in two different competitions during the same Winter Olympics.

Before Usain Bolt changed history, the Olympic sprinting competition stood mired in controversy. After Carl Lewis won in 1984, he failed a drug test at Olympic trials four years later. A series of unseemly expositions followed. Various athletes like Ben Johnson, Linford Christie, and Maurice Greene either tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs immediately after competition or admitted to their use in later interviews. Enter Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, whose singular sprint became one of the moments that shocked the Olympic world.

As he had previously set the record for the 100m sprint, people expected Bolt to place well. With a remarkable east, Bolt blew past his previous world record time, even with unfavorable winds and a slow-down celebration before he reached the finish line. Even wilder, Bolt admitted to eating primarily chicken nuggets from McDonalds beforehand to fuel his victory. Either way, a few days later he set another world record and took home the gold for the 200m sprint.

While this solidified his status as one of the best runners in history, Bolt refused to rest on his laurels. Four years later, he upheld his previous victories by winning Gold medals in the same competitions, the 100m and 200m, adding another gold in the 4x100m relay. Even more impressively, he managed to keep up his medal records four years later at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympics. This time he won three gold medals again in the same contests, the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. This solidified Bolt's stunning career as the fastest man alive, free of performance-enhancing drugs, and one with charm to spare.

(For other moments of athletic unity, discover 7 iconic Stories of sportsmanship from the Summer Olympics.)

Sometimes, athletes start as underdogs before defying expectations and finding their way to victory. Other rarer athletes, however, elevate their championship status into a whole new realm of achievement and artistry. Take Olga Korbut, for example, who gave one of the performances that stunned the Olympic world at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. There, she practically invented new tricks while taking home the gold. Though she missed her mount on bars three times, giving her teammate the medal, Korbut wasn't finished.

Instead, she took home golds for balance beam, floor exercises, and team competition. Though she scored almost perfectly in the uneven bars contest, judges refused to modify their scores, leading to a wave of boos and vulgar shouts from the audience. Even with a few gold medals in hand, Korbut elevated the gymnastics game with her incredibly charismatic performance. As The Herald wrote in 2015, "She pioneered the essence of modern gymnastics: enchanting artistry married seamlessly with breathtaking, daring acrobatics."

While many people get held by obstacles through self-limiting beliefs, American athlete Carl Lewis took the opposite approach. Already a great athlete and track and field star, Lewis kept his eye on the future before one of the performances that shocked the Olympic World. Sure of his future triumph, Lewis knew he had to be media-ready. As such, he interned at the Houston television channel KTRK to get comfortable in front of the camera. In the process, he turned down movie roles and television placements, sure of his future success. All he had to do was make an impressive showing at the Olympics.

He set out to win four gold medals. Indeed he did, after winning four gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and long jump. Though he expected the endorsements to come pouring in, his controversial long jump and haughty attitude kept the media away. Nevertheless, he went on to score incredible athletic achievements. These include drafts into both the NBA and the NFL, though he never played. He followed up his emulation of Jesse Owens at the 1984 Olympics with successive gold medals at the next three summer Olympics.

His legacy, however, became mired in controversy. In the early 2000s, an expose illustrated a large number of Olympic athletes who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs but were still allowed to compete. Lewis showed up on the list for his appearance at the 1988 Summer Olympics, suggesting foul play during his incredible victories. For his part, Lewis claimed he ingested said drugs unknowingly or accidentally. Though many people claimed he did nothing wrong, it tainted an otherwise exemplary Olympic record.

Sometimes, pressure gets put on athletes in realms beyond their control. Take British sprinter Allan Wells, for example. He grew up as a star athlete, becoming the Scottish indoor long jump champion in 1974. He followed this with an impressive sprinting career that earned him various medals throughout the 70s at various European and IAAF World Cups.

When it came time for the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, however, the shadow of the Cold War threatened to keep Wells from competing. After the Americans boycotted the games, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher pressured Wells to follow suit. He persisted but faced serious back pain right before the Olympics started. Instead of more training, Wells decided to spend a few days relaxing.

That little bit of R and R proved to do wonders, however, as Wells eeked past the competition. Though Silvio Leonard appeared to win the 100m, Wells' head and shoulders were just a few inches ahead of Leonard. This gave him the gold medal, and a later silver medal in 200m. Many critics, however, suggested the American boycott of the games gave Wells an unfair advantage. So, only two weeks later, he beat the best American competitors in Cologne, Germany. This proved his sprinting supremacy, even with all the boycotts, injuries, and adversity.

While many athletes strive to unparalleled heights to attain gold medals, others find a careful mixture of ability, strategy, and destiny to bring home a victory. As an Australian speed skater, Steven Bradbury rose through the ranks during the 1990s. In 1991, he won the 5,000m relay at the World Championship in Sydney. A few years later, at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, Bradbury managed a single Bronze medal in the 5,000m relay but failed to place well in the other speed skating events.

Tragedy struck, however, in the intervening train years between the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. After another skater fell in front of him during practice, Bradbury broke his neck. While recovering in a halo brace for several months, doctors told him he would never go on the ice again. Bradbury, for his part, remained determined to get back to the Olympics. Though he became convinced he'd probably never beat his previous times, Bradbury wanted redemption and he got it unexpectedly.

Fortunately, he recovered enough to qualify and enter the 2002 Winter Olympics. Though he posted formidable qualifying times, Olympic officials placed Bradbury in the same race as defending world Champion Marc Gagnon, and host country favorite Apollo Anton Ohno. In a stroke of genius or luck, Bradbury's coach recommended cruising behind the competitors for most of the race. The coach's prediction that the expected winners would take risks and lead to a crash proved correct. In the final race, the top four skaters crashed into each other while attempting to score gold. From there, fourth-place Bradbury cruised into the lead and won the Gold medal. After setbacks and serious injuries, Bradbury provided one of the inspiring performances that shocked the Olympic world.

(For other great returns to form, explore the greatest comeback stories in the history of the Summer Olympics.)