home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
AT&T WorldNet Service
/
WorldNet Service Installation Disk - Cybercathlon Games and Interactive Tour of Olympic Museum (1996).ISO
/
museum
/
museum.dxr
/
00828_Field_st5.txt.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-06-03
|
1KB
|
45 lines
U.S. sprinters get beat at the
Olympics, but they don't get beat
very often. Dating back to the first
Modern Games, when Thomas
Burke crossed the finish line in the
100 meters in 12 seconds,
American men have dominated the
event, winning it 15 times. At the
1984 LA Games, the Americans
finished 1,2,3, led by track
phenom Carl Lewis, who came
back to win again 4 years later.
But in 1992, Briton Linford Christie took home the gold. The
U.S. men have been equally as
strong in the 200 meter dash,
which has been an event at the
Olympics since 1900, and have
won gold in the past 3 Olympics.
Women have been running the 100
meters since 1928, when women's
track and field events were added
to the Summer Games. The 200
meters came later, in 1948.
In 1928, the 100 meters was won
by American Elizabeth Robinson.
Three years after her win, she was
in a devastating plane crash which
left her unable to walk normally for two years, but she was
determined to run anyway. In 1936, she won a second gold
medal as a membe of the 4X100 relay team.
One of the most spectacular
women runners of all time was
Wilma Rudolph, who overcame
polio to win a bronze medal on the
4X100 relay team in 1956, and
triple gold, in the 100, 200 and 4X
100 events, in Rome in 1960.
Florence Griffith Joyner, Flo Jo,
duplicated Rudolph's feat in 1988,
taking gold in the 100, 200 and 4X
100 relay.