Photos: Your Favorite Summer Olympian
Recall the athletes who capture our imaginations every four years and let us know who is your favorite
![favorite-olympians-main-631.jpg](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/rZEpewYGcxJU9QKnloSGSoAGZM8=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-main-631.jpg)
Mark Spitz, Swimming
![Mark Spitz, Swimming](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/n4pOIYRHY9JpPiTdQYUAuidWJJE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-spitz-631.jpg)
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Johnny Weissmuller, Swimming
![Johnny Weissmuller, Swimming](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/H5Sl9bK7IV38CvHI80lt96gvjGM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-weissmuller-631.jpg)
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Steve Prefontaine, Track and Field
![Steve Prefontaine, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/I0UiQ4wU9ZFkK5n31Q4Yiw_qDsM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-prefontaine-631.jpg)
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Bob Beamon, Track and Field
![Bob Beamon, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/0p7a2bdAEnmZTsdrVwPJiM2ICvA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-beamon-631.jpg)
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Mia Hamm, Soccer
![Mia Hamm, Soccer](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/cnd9J9TPhVv4NoY6APx_XTeMziE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-mia-hamm-631.jpg)
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Dara Torres, Swimming
![Dara Torres, Swimming](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/x-nDqnTxiCK1J7aQKzKHsf7-OnU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-torres-631.jpg)
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Charles Frederick "Karch" Kiraly, Volleyball
![None](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/ZCGaHkEQ-6BKf3-RCKXVVMkhvEw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-kiraly-631.jpg)
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Jesse Owens, Track and Field
![Jesse Owens, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/pHQ1MU01U0eb-T_iYasBHq6YYpk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-owens-631.jpg)
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Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Track and Field
![Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/naWEhwbgKAZrnSAdI966wEbI4UA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-joyner-kersee-631.jpg)
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Hamm Brothers, Gymnastics
![Hamm Brothers, Gymnastics](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/URiSE91LmRyg9aXCPbdmwYfLQHE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-hamm-brothers-631.jpg)
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Michael Johnson, Track and Field
![Michael Johnson, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/TkxZoMk5390pjv9lkhAGwD5b9gM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-johnson-631.jpg)
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Tommie Smith, Track and Field
![Tommie Smith, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/SgAnIK2GI0FfwNIcJ7B_nVJ8vVs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-smith-631.jpg)
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"Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, Track and Field
![Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/K5x2dDx3RzlttrHLEXHrClDxp18=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-didrikson-zaharias-631.jpg)
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Kerri Strug, Gymnastics
![Kerri Strug, Gymnastics](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/6TWMvy9UGHK41xdD-wzeiDxNFsc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-strug-631.jpg)
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Greg Louganis, Diving
![Greg Louganis, Diving](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/PdXHUxVlc1Vo6V7rQGULoIZNc9U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-louganis-631.jpg)
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Mary Lou Retton, Gymnastics
![Mary Lou Retton, Gymnastics](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/eWJww3K5s0ps-nwfOFuxdMo2iHA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-retton-631.jpg)
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Michael Phelps, Swimming
![Michael Phelps, Swimming](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/uIqlyeT5jBd1AjwFfYeOYdnEI24=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-phelps-631.jpg)
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Rulon Gardner, Wrestling
![Rulon Gardner, Wrestling](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/F9z7oEmBkmH4AX-o6NOKJnwI-zk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-gardner-631.jpg)
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Florence Griffith-Joyner "Flo-Jo", Track and Field
![Florence Griffith-Joyner Flo-Jo, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/4gp65qSAJwBIKihcIS2XdaNswZg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-griffith-joyner-631.jpg)
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Cassius Clay, Boxing
![Cassius Clay, Boxing](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/uD5UpMcGffBsyaH6yNz-0XXPIec=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-clay-631.jpg)
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Carl Lewis, Track and Field
![Carl Lewis, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/AcH7QgZfyau3Kvi8Ti_F3c0EwPM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-lewis-631.jpg)
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Bruce Jenner, Track and Field
![Bruce Jenner, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/3ym5NrMJBo7pZd8RB8dcjs2wSXE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-jenner-631.jpg)
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Jim Thorpe, Track and Field
![Jim Thorpe, Track and Field](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/v8RW7G88ZJuWFNxIgk3T794bc3s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-thorpe-631.jpg)
A week later the three-day decathlon competition began in a pouring rain. Thorpe opened the event by splashing down the track in the 100-meter dash in 11.2 seconds—a time not equaled at the Olympics until 1948.
On the second day, Thorpe’s shoes were missing. Warner hastily put together a mismatched pair in time for the high jump, which Thorpe won. Later that afternoon came one of his favorite events, the 110-meter hurdles. Thorpe blistered the track in 15.6 seconds, again quicker than Bob Mathias would run it in ’48.
On the final day of competition, Thorpe placed third and fourth in the events in which he was most inexperienced, the pole vault and javelin. Then came the very last event, the 1,500-meter run. The metric mile was a leg-burning monster that came after nine other events over two days. And he was still in mismatched shoes.
Thorpe left cinders in the faces of his competitors. He ran it in 4 minutes 40.1 seconds. Faster than anyone in 1948. Faster than anyone in 1952. Faster than anyone in 1960—when he would have beaten Rafer Johnson by nine seconds. No Olympic decathlete, in fact, could beat Thorpe’s time until 1972. As Neely Tucker of the Washington Post pointed out, even today’s reigning gold medalist in the decathlon, Bryan Clay, would beat Thorpe by only a second.
Thorpe’s overall winning total of 8,412.95 points (of a possible 10,000) was better than the second-place finisher, Swede Hugo Wieslander, by 688. No one would beat his score for another four Olympics.
King Gustav V declared Thorpe to be the “greatest athlete in the world.” But the International Olympic Committee stripped Thorpe of his medals and records because his short-lived minor-league baseball career violated the amateur rules on the books at the time. Although his family was given replica medals in 1982, Thorpe’s records have yet to be restored. --CH
The Dream Team
![The Dream Team](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/cfyvcL3SAuezj822aiZCO7OU450=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/favorite-olympians-dream-team-631.jpg)
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