[POLL] What were the best Summer Olympic Games ever?

[phelps 8,766]

11 hours ago, Dragon said:

I can only talk about about Games I remember but Melbourne, Rome and Tokyo 64 all have good reputations from those who remember them.

68 was spoiled by the effects of altitude, 72 ruined by terrorism, 76 was just average and 80 and 84 ruined by politics and rampant drug taking.

 

Now to those I can talk about.

88 was a good Olympics but Barcelona was a fantastic Games. Atlanta 96 was great as long as you were watching on TV but the athletes and spectators were treated badly if you were there.

Sydney was just magnificent, Athens OK, Bejing good, London almost as good as Sydney, Rio was fine and it's not fair to judge Tokyo 2021 because of Covid.

 

My top three would be

1 Sydney

2 London

3 Barcelona

 

But it depends a lot of where you come from and the problems with time zones

I couldn't agree more...

 

only difference, my memory goes back also to L.A. 1984 and I must admit that despite the Eastern World's boycott, I have a special place in my heart for those Games (as it is for Sarajevo 1984, when it comes to the Winter Games) just because it was the first time I had the chance to discover so many sports I couldn't watch before (I was a 8-year young kid at the time...and I barely knew 5 or 6 sports).

[phelps 8,766]

1 hour ago, Vektor said:

The Summer Games that I have watched "live" are Athens, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo. My ranking is...

 

1. London 2012 - Simply the best, amazing atmosphere from the crowds, a top tier Hungarian Olympic team, many memorable moments

 

2. Beijing 2008 - tainted by very poor Hungarian results, but it had peak Phelps and Bolt, probably the most perfect Summer Games ever in terms of organization

 

3. Athens 2004 - great results from Hungary BUT we had terrible doping scandals and lost two gold medals, probably the greatest water polo match ever between us and Serbia and Montenegro in the final

 

4. Rio 2016 - unprofessional Games compared to the others, but it had Hosszú at her peak, the last appearances of Bolt and Phelps, Biles sweeping in gymnastics, etc.

 

5. Tokyo 2020 - COVID Games, it never had a chance to be great without the spectators

 

this is "the game"