The 8 biggest Olympic comebacks of all time
As we approach the start of the 33rd Summer
Olympic Games in Paris, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest Olympic
comebacks we’ve seen in its 128-year history.
Professional athletes push their bodies to the absolute
limit to win the coveted Olympic medals, which can come with its own set of
risks. No matter how fit and strong an athlete may be, there’s always a risk of
injury when training for or competing in the Olympics.
When this happens, athletes often have to drop out of
competing to look after their health and fitness. However,
the desire to return to your sport better than ever post-injury can be a real
source of motivation and comfort during difficult times.
In this article,
we’ll look at some of the biggest and best Olympic comebacks sport has ever
seen, and the athletes that have bounced back from injuries to win big at the quadrennial
games.
The 8 biggest Olympic comebacks of all time
From diving to figure skating, our list of the biggest
Olympic comebacks covers athletes across a range of sports from the Summer and
Winter Olympic games.
1. Betty Cuthbert, Tokyo Summer Olympics, 1964
Nicknamed Australia’s ‘Golden Girl’, Betty Cuthbert won four
Olympic Gold Medals and multiple world records throughout the course of her
athletics career. Just before the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Cuthbert suffered
a torn hamstring whilst training for the Games, which then lead to her pulling
out all together.
Cuthbert then decided to retire from competing, saying in her book, “I hated being a public figure to be looked at, talked about, and pointed out every time I stepped outside my own front door… I wanted to become a normal twenty-two-year-old girl.”
Her retirement didn’t last long, though, as she decided to
return to running in 1962 for the Commonwealth Games. In 1964, she made her grand
comeback to the sport by winning her fourth gold medal, this time in the 400
metres.
To this day, she is the only Olympian to have won a gold
medal in every sprinting event at the Olympics (100m, 200m, and 400m).
2. Greg Louganis, Seoul Summer Olympics, 1988
Greg Louganis is often hailed as ‘the greatest American
diver’ of all time and competed in his first Olympics at just 16 years old. He
won two gold medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and was expected to do
the same in Seoul four years later.
However, he hit the back of his head on the springboard
during the preliminaries, leading to a concussion and four stitches to close up
the cut. Despite this, though, he went on to win gold medals in the 3m
springboard and 10m platform events, making him the first man to win
consecutive gold medals in both events.
Not only did Louganis’ comeback help him win gold, he also won ABC’s Wide World of Sports ‘Athlete of the Year’ title in the same year.
3. Mark McMorris, PyeongChang Winter Olympics, 2018
Mark McMorris is a Canadian snowboarder who’s won multiple
medals at the Olympics, Worlds Championships, and Winter X Games for his
expertise in slopestyle and big air events.
In 2017, McMorris went snowboarding with friends and ended
up in a collision with a tree, coming away with a list of very serious injuries
including a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, and fractures to his jaw, arm,
pelvis, and ribs.
Remarkably, he made a full recovery and competed in the
PyeongChang Winter Olympics just 11 months after his accident, earning a bronze
medal in the men’s Slopestyle event.
4. Felix Sanchez, London Summer Olympics, 2012
Felix Sanchez holds the title of being the first athlete ever
to win a gold medal for the Dominican Republic at the 2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens. An expert at the 400m hurdles, Sanchez bagged an impressive 43
back-to-back wins for races between 2001-2004.
Unfortunately, during the 2004 Van Damme Memorial Meet, he suffered
an injury to his hamstring which led to him having to stop his participation in
the race early.
Sanchez did not return to race in the Olympics until 2012, where he became the oldest man to win gold at the 400m hurdles at the age of 35. Sanchez won the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award for his impressive comeback to the Games.
Watch the moment on YouTube.
5. Harry Jerome, Tokyo Summer Olympics, 1964
Canadian track and field sprinter Harry Jerome set a total
of seven world records in the 100m sprint and 100-yard dash in his athletic
career.
Whilst competing at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Jerome
ruptured a muscle in his thigh—an injury so severe that many feared he would
never run again.
Proving all of his critics wrong, though, Jerome returned to
compete in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and won a bronze medal in the 100m
sprint. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1972 and was named Athlete of the
Century in the province of British Columbia in the same year.
A statue was erected to commemorate his accomplishments at
Stanley Park in British Columbia six years after his death in 1982.
6. Kerri Strug, Atlanta Summer Olympics, 1996
Kerri Strug competed for the USA gymnastics team in 1992 and 1996 as a member of the Magnificent Seven.
During the final rotation on the final day of the
competition, the USA held a narrow lead, but after the first four gymnasts on
the team were unable to land clean vaults for a high score, it came down to Strug’s
two remaining vaults to ensure they could secure a win.
In her first vault, she managed to fall and injure her
ankle, but her coach encouraged her to try just once more to make sure the team
would win gold. She landed her second vault and secured the win, even with an
injured ankle! It turned out she had a third-degree lateral sprain and tendon
damage.
When it was time for the team to take the podium, her
teammates refused to take the podium without her, leading to the famous photo
of gymnastics coach Béla Károlyi carrying her to the podium to join her
teammates.
7. Nancy Kerrigan, Lillehammer Winter Olympics, 1994
American Nancy Kerrigan has won multiple titles for her
prowess in figure skating, although you’ll most likely know her for the
incident she was involved in with rival figure skater, Tonya Harding.
During the 1994 Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Kerrigan
was attacked with a police baton on her right leg by who later turned out to be
Harding’s ex-husband.
It was believed the intent of the attack was to stop her
from being able to compete in both the Championships and the Olympics. Seven
weeks after the attack, Kerrigan went on to win a silver medal in the Ladie’s Singles.
8. Annemiek van Vleuten, Tokyo Summer Olympics, 2021
Annemiek van Vleuten is a Dutch cyclist whose plethora of
awards is testament to her road cycling abilities. In 2016, she attended the
Olympics in Rio and was leading the pack in her race until her bike flipped
coming around a sharp corner.
She ended up going over the handlebars and landed upside
down on the curb at the side of the road, suffering three fractures in her back
and a concussion. Despite the injuries, though, van Vleuten was back on her
bike again just two weeks later.
In 2021, she got her second chance at an Olympic medal in
the road race and clinched a silver medal. She then won gold in the time trial
three days later.
You don’t have to be an Olympic-level athlete to be affected
by an injury—not to mention equipment damage, loss, or theft.
Even if you’re extra careful, exercising always carries a
risk of injury, which could stop you not only from exercising again for a
while, but it could also impact your ability to work, depending on the severity
of the injury.
Find out more about the sports we cover and get an online quote for your protection today.
