From Owens to Bolt - iconic Olympic moments

The Olympics has had some memorable moments; from Usain Bolt sprinting into history to Jesse Owens's confounding racism.

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Berlin - From August 5-21, sportspeople from all over the world will compete against each other in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The Olympic story is already brimming with memorable moments - some wonderful and uplifting, some controversial. We take a look at some of the most iconic - and infamous - stories in the history of the Games.

JESSE OWENS (1936)

Hitler saw the 1936 Berlin Olympics as his chance to showcase to the world the power and strength of Nazi Germany. He believed his Aryan “Uebermenschen” would sweep the board - but he'd reckoned without the American sprinter Jesse Owens.

Owens was a black athlete used to upsetting the racial apple cart in his home country, where equal rights for people of all ethnicities were still decades away. In Berlin, he made a mockery of Hitler's theories of eugenics, trouncing all-comers to win four gold medals and become the iconic figure of the Games.

TOMMIE SMITH/JOHN CARLOS (1968)

By 1968, many young black Americans were burning with anger, refusing to accept the prejudice that their forebears like Jesse Owens had had to deal with every day of their lives. After victory in the 200m at the Mexico City Olympics, the American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos ascended the podium, where each raised a single black-gloved fist in the air in a “black power” salute as their country's national anthem played.

“[If I win] they'll say I'm an American,” Smith said later, “but if I did something bad, they'd say [I'm] a Negro.” Smith and Carlos were booed by the crowd at the time, and the pair came in for severe criticism both at home and from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which said it was “a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit”.

Now, the gesture is seen as having played a key role in drawing international attention to the struggle for equality in the US.

MARK SPITZ/MUNICH MASSACRE (1972)

“The Games must go on,” IOC president Avery Brundage informed a shocked world after 11 Israeli athletes had been taken hostage and killed by Palestinian terrorist group Black September at the Munich Olympics in 1972. A German police officer also lost his life in the tragedy.

Mark Spitz made the sporting headlines at the Games: the American swimmer won seven gold medals.

BEN JOHNSON/STEFFI GRAF (1988)

The Olympics had never seen a scandal quite like that caused by Ben Johnson in Seoul in 1988. The Canadian won the 100m in a blistering 9.79 seconds but was later stripped of both his gold medal and his world-record time after being found guilty of doping. American sprinter Carl Lewis, who had come second in the race, was awarded gold instead. Lewis was later revealed to have been cleared by the American Olympic Committee to compete in Seoul despite having himself failed three drug tests before the '88 Games.

Meanwhile, a 19-year-old Steffi Graf crowned an unbelievable year: going into the tournament as the holder of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles, the German took gold in Seoul to win all five major titles in a calendar year and complete an unprecedented “Golden Slam”. It's an achievement that's yet to be equalled in either men's or women's tennis.

THE DREAM TEAM (1992)

With the requirement that all competitors be amateur lifted for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the door was opened for the USA's basketball superstars to compete. Michael Jordan, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird were some of the most prominent members of America's so-called “Dream Team”, who won every match by a margin of at least 32 points.

Half-times saw their opponents approach them for autographs; the US team didn't call a single time-out in the entire Games. The team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

CATHY FREEMAN (2000)

The 2000 Olympics in Sydney saw another political statement by a sprinter - only this time it was an officially sanctioned one. The Olympic torch was lit at the opening ceremony by Australian 400m runner Cathy Freeman, an athlete of Aboriginal background - significant given the centuries of discrimination endured by her people at the hands of white settlers.

Freeman had become the first indigenous Australian to win a Commonwealth Games medal in 1990 and her career highlight came in Sydney as she took gold in front of a partisan home crowd. She completed her lap of honour draped in both the Australian and Aboriginal flags - the latter not officially sanctioned.

USAIN BOLT (2008)

Three starts, three gold medals, three world records: Usain Bolt became the star of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, overshadowing even swimmer Michael Phelps, whose eight gold medals in the pool set a new tournament record.

Bolt set new world bests in the 100m and 200m, beating Michael Johnson's fabled time of 19.32 seconds in the latter event by two hundredths of a second. He then anchored the Jamaica team to glory in the 4 x 100m to complete his 100 per cent record at the Games - in another world record time, of course.

MO FARAH/ANDY MURRAY (2012)

Back in the pre-Brexit days, Britain celebrated as a Somali immigrant and a Scotsman made the headlines at the London Olympics 2012. Mo Farah took gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m, while tennis star Andy Murray triumphed in the men's singles event. Both men contributed to the home country's strong showing at the Games, in which they came third in the medal table behind two of the competition's powerhouses, the United States and China. – DPA