USA 4x100m relay team
Beijing 2008
With a lineage of incredible Olympic sprinters, it was no surprise the USA were among the favourites to claim gold in the men’s 4x100m relay in Beijing. But they didn’t get out of the heats, dropping the baton and being instantly disqualified. An embarrassment for the USA that was compounded hours later when the women’s relay team did exactly the same. Jamaica’s men went on to smash the world record in the final to claim their first 4x100m relay Olympic gold.
Australia Olympic Team
Montreal 1976
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and Australia winning things. From cricket to rugby to swimming, the Aussies have always excelled in the sporting field and the Olympic stage was no different – until Montreal 1976. Considered the modern nadir of their Olympic participation, 180 Australian athletes took part in 115 events and returned with an embarrassing haul of one silver and four bronze medals. It spurred their prime minister to set up the Australian Institute of Sport.
Paula Radcliffe
Athens 2004
Considered in sporting corridors as something of a Chernobyl-esque meltdown, Britain’s entry to this list is long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe. Having missed out on medals in Sydney, and looking in fine form, Radcliffe had gold on her mind in the marathon in Athens. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. On the hottest day of the month, and with humidity higher than it had been in weeks, the world witnessed Radcliffe’s metaphorical and actual collapse, about four miles from the finish line.
Cassius Clay
Rome 1960
Not a conventional Olympic meltdown, but one so monumental in its execution it deserves a place here. Winning gold at the 1960 Games, 18-year-old Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) was so enamoured by his medal he confessed to sleeping with it and paraded it around his neck on his journey home to Louisville. But it met a brutal end when Clay – incensed after being turned away from a ‘whites’ only’ restaurant – started a fight with customers and threw his prize into the Ohio River.
USA basketball team
Athens 2004
Boasting a line-up of NBA superstars, including LeBron James and Allen Iverson, you wouldn’t have accused the American men of hubris for thinking they would leave Greece with another Olympic basketball gold. But if it was a ‘Dream Team’ the USA fans were expecting, it was a nightmare they got. Losing to Lithuania, Argentina and minnows Puerto Rico, the US could only muster up a bronze medal. Before 2004, American teams had only lost two matches in all of the previous Olympic Games tournaments.
Angel Valodia Matos
Beijing 2008
Meltdowns are rarely more pronounced than that of taekwondo competitor Ángel Valodia Matos. Infuriated by a number of calls made against him in a closely fought, yet controversial match, Cuban bad boy Matos took matters into his own hands, or rather feet, by aiming a square kick in the face of the poor referee. Failing to apologise later meant the ironically named ‘Ángel’ was smacked with a lifetime ban, preventing him from competing in the Olympic Games ever again.
Zola Budd v Mary Decker
Los Angeles 1984
Already surrounded by controversy because of fast-tracked British citizenship, South African-born Zola Budd and the USA’s Mary Decker cemented their names in the annals of sporting history in the 3000m women’s final. Under intense pressure from her rival, Budd – running barefoot – was holding her own against Decker until the double world champion clipped Budd’s heels and fell over, going out of the race. The chorus of 85,000 boos was too much for the blameless Budd, who utterly capitulated, finishing seventh.
Adam Van Koeverden
Beijing 2008
The ‘curse of the flag bearer’ is a familiar phrase in Olympic history, with many a nation’s greatest hope being jinxed by its deceptive weight. Canoe maestro Adam Van Koeverden experienced the true meaning of this with a personal shocker in Beijing. Considered a relative shoo-in for gold in the men’s 1000m race, the Canadian flag bearer was sitting pretty in second place at the halfway stage, before his performance imploded and the entire field passed him. He finished 8th.
USA Basketball team
Munich 1972
Enjoying a run of 63 Olympic games unbeaten, the Americans saw their dominance of the sport unceremoniously ended by their most bitter of enemies – the USSR (at the height of the Cold War, no less) – after an extremely contentious final, in which the USA had what they thought were winning points chalked off and overtime replayed twice in the Russians’ favour. The losing stars walked off the court, subsequently refusing to pick up their silver medals. They remain uncollected to this day.
Ralf Leberer
Sydney 2000
Usually a collective rarely guilty of choking when it comes to a big occasion (just look at their football team’s penalty shoot-out record against England), Germany’s hopes of a gold medal were dashed by Ralf Leberer’s unfortunate race in the 110m hurdles final. Touted as a strong favourite, Ralf clocked 56.74 seconds for a race that is usually contested over 14 seconds. He straggled over the finishing line after, quite literally, falling at the first hurdle, owing to encroachment on his lane by Britain’s Tony Jarrett. Old feuds die hard it seems...
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