Olympics 2012 Build-Up: The worst Olympic moments

As much as we can't wait for the London Olympics and have many fond memories of previous stagings, there has been some not-so-memorable moments in the Games history. Alex Lee looks back at some of the worst...

Terrorism

Emotions often run high in the Olympic Games, but people having a bit of a cry after narrowly missing out on the medals pales into insignificance alongside the altogether more horrific events of 1972. That year, Palestinian terrorist organization Black September was found responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and the fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the Olympics in Munich.

Tit-for-tat boycotts

Rather than concentrate on putting aside their long-rumbling political differences by competing in the Olympics, 1980 Olympics saw the USA boycott the Moscow Olympics as part of a package of actions initiated by the Americans to protest the Soviet war in Afghanistan. With depressing predictability, this was followed four years later in 1984 when the Olympics was boycotted by the Soviet Union and other Communist-friendly countries.

Ben Johnson drugs cheat

The 1988 100 metres final had been hyped up beyond recognition in the days building up to it, but the pre-race excitement was nothing compared to the post-event shock. Carl Lewis was widely expected to coast the race, but Canadian Ben Johnson breezed past Lewis as if he'd imbued some sort of wonder drug. Trouble was, it turned out he had done. Drugs cheat Johnson, as he is now commonly known, had taken the banned steroid stanozolol and his gold medal was swiftly removed from his trophy cabinet. Lewis' silver, therefore, became gold and Linford Christie's bronze became silver.

Mary Decker/Zola Budd

It's rare that a women's race is given as much media attention as this one. South African-born and barefoot runner Zola Budd, who had been 'fast-tracked' through as a British citizen for the purpose of competing in the 1984 Olympics faced the glamorous and much-supported Mary Decker in the final of the 3000 metres. To cut to the chase, Budd and Decker collided three times just past the half-way point of the race, with the third collision sending Decker sprawling off the track and clearly upsetting Budd. The partisan crowd booed Budd, blaming her for Decker's downfall, when video evidence has since proved the incident was totally accidental. Budd finished a disappointing seventh, later claiming that she slowed down so as not to face the wrath of the crowd if she'd won.

Greg Louganis smashes his head

Despite the incident being broadcast with predictable regularity every time diving is mentioned on TV, you cannot help but scream 'OUCH' when Greg Louganis cracks his head against the diving board. In trying to perform a complicated mid-air manoeuvre (a reverse 2 and a half pike, fact fans), Louganis suffered concussion after his miscalculation caused him to smash his bonce, rather than simply hurtle gracefully water-wards. The American had the last laugh, however, taking the gold medal in two events - the three metre springboard and the 10 metre platform.

Paula Radcliffe misses out

Multi-medallist Paula Radcliffe holds the World Record for the marathon and has won countless cross country, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres events in her career, but an Olympic gold medal has eluded her, with her most recent attempt, in 2008, ending ignominiously. Despite winning the New York Marathon in November 2007, Radcliffe finished a lowly 23rd which with hindsight wasn't a bad effort considering she'd broken her leg in the May.

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The 6 greatest ever Masters moments

US Masters / Dan Fitch / 06 April 2011 / Leave a Comment

Jack Nicklaus was responsible for our greatest Masters moment.

On the eve of this year's tournament, Dan Fitch takes a look at the greatest ever Masters moments.

The Masters tees off on Thursday and golf lovers everywhere will be looking forward to four days of action from the world's best players.

If the tournament is half as entertaining as the the following Masters, then we'll be in for a treat. Here are the six greatest ever Masters moments.

Sandy Lyle was level with Mark Calcavecchia as they began to pay the last hole and it looked like he was destined to finish in second place when his tee shot found the fairway bunker. Lyle's bunker shot was perfect though, spinning back to give the Scot a chance of a birdie. He calmly sunk the putt to become the first British winner of the Masters.

There have been few more emotional winners in gold than Jose Maria Olazabal when he picked up his second Mastres title in 1999. Two years earlier he had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which left the Spaniard practically bedridden. It was only with the help of the renowned sports injury expert Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt that Olazabal was able to get back playing golf and Jose would pay tribute to his saviour in his winning speech.

When the Augusta local Larry Mize made a three-man play-off in 1987, it was thought that he was there to make up the numbers while the heavyweight talents of Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman fought it out. Instead Seve was eliminated at the first extra hole to leave Mize in contention with Norman. It looked like The Great White Shark would win when Mize missed the green on the second hole, only for the outsider to shock everyone by holing from around 140 feet with his sand wedge.

Tiger Woods Masters victory in 1997 was not just his first Major title, but a statement of intent. Not only did he become the Masters' youngest ever champion at 21 years and 104 days, but he also broke the records for the lowest ever aggregate score with 270 and the biggest margin of victory, beating the second-placed Tom Kite by 12 strokes.

The 1996 Masters is not likely to be remembered as a tournament that Nick Faldo won, but rather the Masters which Greg Norman lost. The Australian had a six shot lead going into the last day, only to lose his nerve and allow his partner Faldo to snatch victory. This was a final day that you couldn't take your eyes off, even if it was somewhat painful to watch.

Despite having won five Masters titles, Jack Nicklaus was not given a prayer in 1986, which is no surprise considering that he had failed to finish higher than 39th in his previous seven tournaments and hadn't won at Augusta since 1980. On the final day Nicklaus was trailing Greg Norman, but rolled back the years with a brilliant final nine to become to oldest Masters champion, aged 46.

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