Post from: EveryJoe

Olympic Moments: Michael Johnson at the Atlanta Games

Post from: EveryJoe

Atlanta Olympic Opening Ceremony – 1996

Hawkes is the captain of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team aka Hockeyroos for eight years. She is a midfield player.

Hawkes was able to compete in three Olympic Games: 1988 Seoul Games, 1996 Atlanta Games and 2000 Sydney Games, where she won the gold medal. Another time she competed is during the 1992 Barcelona Games, where Australia finished fifth place.

The three gold win in the Olympics is a record in women’s hockey that still remains unbroken today. And Hawkes is one of two Australian females to win three Olympic gold medals at three separate Games.

Hawkes also had the privilege of reciting the Athlete’s Olympic Oath during the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Sources: Olympic.org | Wikipedia

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Rechelle Hawkes, Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist in Field Hockey

That was their first Olympic appearance as an official event. (See prior posting)

Unlike men’s football, no age restriction is applied to the tournament. The final attracted 76,000 spectators – a record for a women’s sporting event.

While modern men’s football has existed since 1863 and was among the first team sports on the programme of the Olympic Games, the same cannot be said of women’s football. Although women played football from the end of the 19th century in England, we had to wait until the end of the First World War to see the appearance of the first competition: the French women’s football championship. In 1969 the first European Cup was organised and, in 1970, so was the first World Cup, both competitions which remained “unofficial”.

(Source)

It’s good to note that according to the article, since 1991, the IOC has made their intentions clear to make women sports more visible and significant when they established a requisite that all new sports to be introduced in the Olympics programme should have a women’s event. Awesome.

Post from: EveryJoe

When did Women’s Football first made an Olympic appearance?

Women’s Football was only introduced in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. It has gained a considerable following and support since then and it is expected to cultivate more women football athletes.

Source: www.olympic.org

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Football Celebrates Its 108th Year of Olympism

According to the article I read today, multiple Olympic and World champion Kong Linghui announced his retirement last Thursday after playing his last competitive match during the Chinese National Championships.

He had plans of competing in the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing but he viewed it as an unrealistic goal prior his decision. He further said that he’s no longer in his prime and will be able to contribute better as a coach. He now takes on the coaching role in the Chinese National Team.

Kong’s major achievements are:

Source: People’s Daily Online

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King Kong Retires

Breaking down the seven medals, three bronze, two silver and two gold. Five of which, the three bronze and two silver, she won during the 1992 Barcelona Games and the other two remaining, which were gold medals, were during the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Life after the Olympics, Miller is currently a law school student in Boston. She plans to finish it next year. She also is running her own television show, “Gymnastics USA with Shannon Miller,” that airs on the East Coast. And she has duties as honorary chairman of the Oklahoma City Memorial Kids Marathon.

The other athletes who will be inducted with Miller are two members of the Soviet Union team, Vladimir Artemov and Natalia Kuchinskaya. The former won four gold medals in 1988 Seoul Games and the latter won a gold medal on the balance beam during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Another is Japan’s Eizo Kenmotsu, who won the all-around at the 1970 World Championships and was member of Japan’s teams that won gold medals during the 1968 Mexico City Games, 1972 Munich Games and 1976 Montreal Games.

Lastly, German Ulrich Spieth will be recognized with an International Order of Merit.

ESPN

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Shannon Miller and the Hall of Fame