Who is the flukiest Olympic Gold medal winner of all-time?

Valeriy Borzov, winner of the 100 meters in Munich 1972, when Eddie Hart missed the bus to the stadium.

When I think fluke, I think one-off. That's why I said Nils Schumann is the best example. Beat the WR holder due to a miscalculation on Kipketer's part, only made two other world teams ever, hardly won any international races in his career. That's a one-off. It's probably something that could only happen in the 800m -- enough time to make a tactical error, without enough time to rectify it.

Opinionated guy wrote:

your move @mgcentro wrote:

Vebjorn Rodal?

Rodal was the '96 Atlanta champ. I watched the race. He was a 1:42.5 guy.

Atlanta newspaper reporting on his win said that Finland had so much snow the previous year that Rodal did parts of his training back and forth inside a traffic tunnel in the mountains. If true, that could make you a tough SOB.

Norway, not Finland.

Probably not the flukiest because he had a few wins at solid second tier marathons and was very close at top races, but Stefano Baldini's 2004 marathon gold was about as much luck as has ever befallen a runner.

First, the heat took out most of the E. Africans and one of the pre-race favorites Jaouad Gharib. Then, Paul Tergat, who had just set the WR in 2003, cramped up after taking ice water from a unofficial aid station. And then, as we all remember, Vanerlei de Lima made a huge move and had a lead of about 30 seconds at 35k. de Lima was then attacked by the crazy Irish priest and lost the lead to Baldini, who was in a chase pack with Meb. Baldini did have a decisive push the last 2-3 miles to gap Meb. But the combination of the extreme heat (and the poor preparation by the E. Africans for the conditions), Tergat's cramping and the attack on de Lima made the win full of footnotes.

birdbeard wrote:

When I think fluke, I think one-off. That's why I said Nils Schumann is the best example. Beat the WR holder due to a miscalculation on Kipketer's part, only made two other world teams ever, hardly won any international races in his career. That's a one-off. It's probably something that could only happen in the 800m -- enough time to make a tactical error, without enough time to rectify it.

I think there have been several exellent examples of potential flukes at the Olympic level. Your choice of Schumann definitely belongs in the conversation. But since you are seemingly trying to narrow one over others I go back to Patoulidou in the '92 100 hurdles.

Using your criteria on Schumann, she beat the world's best time (Devers) who was winning by such a large margin that after whe fell over hurdle 10 she still finished 5th just .13 off the winner.

Patoulidou was not even listed in most form charts to make the final but she improved .32 over her pre-Olympic best in the final. After all, she was a long jumper who picked up the hurdles because she thought she had a better chance to get the Olympic participation experience. What would .32 improvement over 100 meters be for 800? 3-4+ seconds? She was the first athlete from her country to win since 1912 and the first and only Greek woman to ever make an Olympic final. Comparing to Schumann, she NEVER qualified for another Olympic 100 hurdles and 1 WC although she did not get past her first heat. She NEVER won a major international race in the 100 hurdles other than this one Olympic gold.

I don't think we should try to split hairs on Schumann, Patoulidou, Kenteris, and the many other great examples listed for a big Olympic unforseen win. But if we do, Patoulidou belongs in the conversation.

your move @mgcentro wrote:

Norway, not Finland.

Thank you. It was not just a hurried typing error because I actually always think of him as Finnish. I am just wrong.

Thanks for the help.

All good, I misremembered the year of his win. Agree with your theorem that the 800 is maybe the most likely event for a fluke win, as it's almost impossible to recover from even a tiny, untimely mistake and probably sees the highest amount of contact given it's the fastest pace race not run entirely in lanes. Steeplechase is up there, too.

Billy Mills hands down.

We probably all have slightly different takes on what fluke means, but Peter Rono did nothing prior to or after his 1500 medal that suggested he was an Olympic gold medalist. And as I mentioned above, Ben Kogo's steeplechase gold in Mexico City also fits that criteria even more than Rono does because Rono was racing on a level playing field while Kogo had the advantage of being altitude born and raised when few others in the race did.. No one had heard of him before the Olympics and he pretty much disappeared afterwards. I also think you could say the same about Naftali Temu and his 10,00 gold medal but he did have one other significant win, the six mile at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.

Henry Marsh missed a barrier at the '81 World Cup.

Centro winning the 1500 vs doped up Kiprop was a practical joke you heard it here first.

Borzakovskiy over Kipketer.

HRE wrote:

HRE wrote:

Not sure I buy the concept but if I did I'd go with one of the Kenyans from 1968, Biwott or Kogo. I don't see either winning if the Games weren't at altitude.

I meant Biwott and Temu though Kogo's medal probably only happens at altitude as well.

Temu beat Clarke in the Commonwealth Games two years earlier at sea level.

Josh439 wrote:

Konstantinos Kenteris winning the Mens 200 at the 2000 Olympics.

That’s a good one.

Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene both pulled up at the US Olympic Trials.

John Capel hesitated out of the blocks in the Olympic final as a false start to as seemingly missed.

Kenteris only ran 20.09 to win Gold.

That’s a bit flukey for all of that to line up for him.

ovett 800m moscow

most of the best runners were not there.

and coe messed up bad.

so it was a very low class field otherwise, world class yes, but barely.

hollow

coe never won an 800m gold OG

ovett never won a 1500m gold OG

this planet, well, logic does not work so well.

it's a crap shoot.

Someone who comes to mind is Dawn Harper in the 100MH in 2008. Lolo Jones was the fastest in the field and was leading heading for gold and clipped a hurdle, allowing Harper to take the gold. Lolo's semi time would have won the final.

All fair in a technical event, but Harper has to consider herself lucky to be an Olympic champ

Armstronglivs wrote:

These are the blue riband events of track.

Do you mean "the blue ribald events of track"?

slippy wrote:

Well, in the case of Steven Bradbury, it did.

hah...yup, should have been eliminated in the early rounds and kept on getting lucky with people falling/DQs in front of him