What's the biggest accomplishment ever by an athlete in a single event?

[Done_And_Done]

Sitler's 9 points in one hockey game record is one many believe will never be broken. It's definitely up there if we're talking about one offs.

[Just2McFly]

Jesse Owens, 1936 Olympics
Jack Johnson becoming a heavyweight champion

Those two have way more historical significance than anything mentioned so far.

[DonD13]

Ali, The Rumble in the Jungle

[christian1923]

Fernando Tatis hit two grand slams in one inning. I don't think that'll ever happen again lol

[RagaZ]

Too much America in this Thread.

[mr.big35]

chamberlain 100 point game

[Crystallas]

Probably when Al Bundy scored 4 TDs in a single game for Polk High

This, thread.

[Akrazotile]

Too much America in this Thread.

Never enough 'Merica.

[PistonsFan#21]

Why do people care if you can run fast

same reason people care if you can jump high, put a ball through a hoop or kick a ball into a net

[Done_And_Done]

Probably when Al Bundy scored 4 TDs in a single game for Polk High

GOAT!

[tmacattack33]

Usain Bolt's 100 meter world record

[oarabbus]

Jesse Owens, 1936 Olympics
Jack Johnson becoming a heavyweight champion

Those two have way more historical significance than anything mentioned so far.

It's not explicitly stated but the OP is going for biggest/most impressive athletic accomplishment. Not historical achievement.

If you are looking at the actual athletic feats themselves, neither Owens or Johnson are close to someone like Usain Bolt or Hicham El Guerrouj or Joe Frazier, etc.

[PistonsFan#21]

except the last two are entertaining

"that guy is the fastest person ever!"

"cool"

entertaining to some but not all. Alot of people find soccer and basketball boring actually.

And alot of people find the 100 meter dash entertaining. Its actually one of my favorite events in the summer olympics

[hateraid]

Usain Bolt's 100 meter world record

I want to say this mainly because I read somewhere that that time was supposed to be scientifically impossible.

[oarabbus]

I want to say this mainly because I read somewhere that that time was supposed to be scientifically impossible.

It's not supposed to be scientifically impossible. He just shattered the mark by a massive amount that people thought would take decades (previous record 9.79 I believe). Bolt's 100m certainly isn't the biggest accomplishment though, in fact his 200m time of 19.19 is more impressive than his 100m time.


Also, if you want to go biggest accomplishment "at the time" then it is Bob Beamon's long jump WR and not close, it absolutely blows everything out of the water. I mean to say it's almost disrespectful to Beamon to even mention Wilt's 100 point game or Bolt's 100m dash in the same sentence as Beamon's jump.

On October 18, Beamon set a world record for the long jump with a first jump of 8.90 m (29 ft. 2 1/2 in.), bettering the existing record by 55 cm (21 3/4 in.). When the announcer called out the distance for the jump, Beamon – unfamiliar with metric measurements – still did not realize what he had done.[4] When his teammate and coach Ralph Boston told him that he had broken the world record by nearly 2 feet, his legs gave way and an astonished and overwhelmed Beamon suffered a brief cataplexy attack brought on by the emotional shock,[5] and collapsed to his knees, his body unable to support itself, placing his hands over his face. In one of the more enduring images of the Games, his competitors then helped him to his feet.[6] The defending Olympic champion Lynn Davies told Beamon, "You have destroyed this event," and in sports jargon, a new adjective – Beamonesque – came into use to describe spectacular feats.

Beamon landed his jump near the far end of the sand pit but the optical device which had been installed to measure jump distances was not designed to measure a jump of such length. This forced the officials to measure the jump manually which added to the jump's aura.

Beamon's world-record jump was named by Sports Illustrated magazine as one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century.

also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEt_Xgg8dzc

For some perspective, beating the previous long jump WR by 3" or 4" would be considered SHATTERING the record. It's quite difficult to put into words how fvcking unreal beating the previous record by almost 2 feet is. The fact that he collapsed and became temporarily catatonic is the best way to explain it.

Yes, there was wind, yes the jump was at altitude, but there was wind for Bolt as well, there will always be special circumstances during any great feat...

Nothing in recorded human history even comes close to to Beamon at the time it was achieved.