As we settle into this new millennium and look forward to the Sydney Olympics, it only seems appropriate to take a look back at the last century. A lot of musing has gone about the century's best performances and athletes, so I thought it was appropriate that I weigh in on the matter.
Evaluating the past 100 years is no easy task. Picking out the top sports figures almost seems impossible. But overcoming incredible odds, accomplishing the impossible, peaking under immense pressure - combine these accomplishments and the century's best seems obvious.
What Jesse Owens did in one week in 1936 sets him apart from the century's other great athletes. Not only did he excel athletically and run away with four gold medals, but also he became a living symbol of good triumphing over evil.
The 1936 Olympics were in Berlin, which was on the verge of World War II. Nazism and Hitler reigned, but that was before Owens took the field. Owens, the grandson of slaves, put on quite a show, winning gold medals in the 100-metter and 200-meter dashes, the long jump and as a member of America's 4 by 100 relay team.
He overcame adversity and unimaginable pressure to reach heights obtained by few. To me, that qualifies Owens as the century's best.
Other news organizations have given their opinions with a different result. ESPN voted Michael Jordan the century's best athlete. There is no question Jordan has accomplished great things, six NBA championships is nothing to sneeze at, but I wonder if the voters weren't a bit prejudiced by the time period we are living in - this the same era in which Jordan excelled.
Nonetheless, ESPN's Sport Century does an excellent job overall in highlighting 100 of the century's best athletes. Twelve track and field stars are spotlighted, including Owens at No. 6.
There are three track and field standouts in the top 10, including No. 7 Jim Thorpe who won the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. He was stripped of those medals in 1913 after it was discovered he had violated amateur rules by being paid to play minor league baseball. Thorpe later became a professional football player, and, in 1920, he helped found the American Professional Football Association, which later became the National Football League.
No. 10 on the ESPN list is another two-sport standout Babe Didrikson, who excelled on the track and later on the links. Didrikson qualified for five Olympic events for the 1932 Games held in Los Angeles, but at the time women were allowed to compete in only three. She won two gold medals - in the first women's Olympic javelin (143-4) and in the first Olympic 80-meter hurdles (11.7) in which she set a world record. In the high jump, along with Jean Smiley, Didrikson broke the world record at 5-foot-5+. However, Smiley received the gold and Didrikson took silver when an official ruled Didrikson's head cleared the bar before the rest of her body (a rule that no longer exists)on her last jump. Didrikson went on to excel as a golfer, winning 55 tournaments, including three U.S. Women's Opens.
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