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

How about Jong Song-ok, the female North Korean who won the 1999 World Champs in Seville. Did she ever do anything before or after?

Concupiscurd wrote:

Some great posts in this thread. I realize that most people have the summer games in mind but as a very young Canadian at the time, I have an indelible memory of this event. Wonder how many of you watched it live? Miracle on Ice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYscemhnf88

I'm curious. Was this shown live in Canada? Here in the US it was taped delayed.

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.

Not sure why Finland having so much snow would have made any difference to Rodal.

Miller uibo diving. Still not convinced she beat her with the dive but it’s bush league. Plus they said it’s not who crises first it’s based on the middle of the persons body. How do you do that when someone is horizontal? Go from her waste? If that was the case she shouldn’t have won anyway. Felix in Queen.

Wyndham Halswelle

As far as distance running goes, Peter Rono is a great choice. Nobody knew who he was before his gold, and he vanished forever after the Olympics despite being a young phenom.

I don't understand how Centro could ever be mentioned as a fluke. He's been a serious contender in every championship 1500 he has entered. He was a 3:30 guy with 2 WC medals and a 4th place from 2012. From reading the letsrun forums, one would assume that Alan Webb is a GOAT candidate while Centro is the world's biggest luckbox. Never underestimate the bitterness of angry Alan Webb fans!

Whatley wrote:

Allen Woodring was just an alternate on our 1920 Olympic team. He would only compete in the 200m if somebody else couldn't, well guess what? An illness put him in he race, He would end up beating Charles Paddock who had won the 100m, So Allen Woodring Olympic 200m Champion.

Okay, this is kind of a fluke. Still, he had to be the fastest though. It's not like all the other guys got hit by geese in the race. That would be a bigger fluke. Weird word, fluke.

hatchetman wrote:

Miller uibo diving. Still not convinced she beat her with the dive but it’s bush league. Plus they said it’s not who crises first it’s based on the middle of the persons body. How do you do that when someone is horizontal? Go from her waste? If that was the case she shouldn’t have won anyway. Felix in Queen.

I have done an investigation. This comment is erroneous and impertinent. Clear win for Miller-Uibo. The rule is torso. No one really dives at the line intentionally. It just happens. As an aside, though it wouldn't have made the difference, Felix's lean was terrible.

Terrible is an overstatement. I correct myself.

birdbeard wrote:

you all are showing your young age. you don't remember something flukier than Centrowitz, who was also World 1500m Indoors champ that year and had a silver and bronze already on the world stage? kiprop ran like an idiot, and mahkloufi almost go there but just couldn't quite make it, but Centro was a decent bet for a medal and ended up winning. big deal. that happens in some event every single olympics and world championships.

you wanna see a fluke? let's talk NILS MF'IN SCHUMANN over Wilson Kipketer.

Schumann only qualified for 3 WCs/Olympics in his entire career. He never ran under 1:44 in his career. In 2000, the year he won the Olympics, he didn't win a single major international race except the Olympics. That's a fluke. Centrowitz is not a fluke.

+1 for Schumann, I saw the thread title and thought of him immediately. Such an absurd win. It would be like Marius Bakken defeating Bekele and El Guerrouj in Athens.

The one that sticks in my mind is Al Joyner, 1984 Triple Jump. He didn't even win the USA trials, coming in second to Conley. At the Olympics, it took him three jumps just to get to the final, and even then he only qualified 4th. He then goes on to win the gold on his very first jump. The boycott that year probably diluted the competition a bit, but still, I remember that win being a big surprise. He never won another international medal that I know of, and I think that was his one and only Olympics.

Luv2Run wrote:

Not sure why Finland having so much snow would have made any difference to Rodal.

He was studying to be a meteorologist and spending time in Finland doing field work.

I am joking. I assigned him to the wrong country. Someone else addressed it to get me on the right page........but thanks for piling on!

That too was intended as a joke.

Rodal = Norway!!!!!!

Gabriella Szabo getting gold ahead of Sonia O Sullivan will never sit right with me..

John Wesley Harding wrote:

I went through just about every middle and long distance runner mentioned in this thread and found their ultimate peak position on the all-time lists in the event in which they won gold:

Steve Ovett - 8

I thought you agreed his best position was 9?

doctorj wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

What he did prior to the win and what he does in the future, is meaningless. He won the MF 1500 Gold Medal against a very strong field.

Absolutely. It was not Centro's fault the entire field decided to go slow, he just used it to his advantage as any smart runner would. The jealous crowd here is pathetic.

Its not written in stone that Centrowitz couldn't have won off of a faster pace. Makhloufi ran 1:42.61 shortly before the Olympics and couldn't pass Centro down the stretch. A faster pace would have helped Centro relative to Makhloufi.

I believe Centro would still have won off of a 2:00 split for 800 and Kiprop would have had the edge if it was faster.

lucky timing wrote:

Probably the dude who won the 800m at the 1896 Olympics. Unexceptional runner who lucked into living at a time when 2:11 could win an international gold.

Olympic winner yes, but not gold. The winners in 1896 were given silver medals.

restrunner wrote:

John Wesley Harding wrote:

I went through just about every middle and long distance runner mentioned in this thread and found their ultimate peak position on the all-time lists in the event in which they won gold:

Steve Ovett - 8

I thought you agreed his best position was 9?

Yeah, when I said he was #10 back in 2019 (which you corrected me on yesterday) I was missing that 2 week window after 1:44.09 but while he was still ahead of Coe; then last night, before I saw your correction in the other thread, I came up with #8 because I’d failed to include handheld timing was just looking at the FAT filter. Good thing you’re here to keep me honest.

Never again will I say anything except #9.

Biggest fluke? Anyone who won a gold at the 1906 Saint Louis Worlds Fair Games.

Probably Sebastian Coe. He only won due to the diluted field from the 1980 US Boycott of the Olympics. Had the US come, he likely wouldn't have even gotten top 3.