The is a celebration of athleticism, sporting prowess and goodwill but there have been a number of incidents over the years that have gone beyond mere sport. From politics and ideology to humour, courage and tragedy, we take you through 10 Olympics moments that shook the world.
Jesse Owens - Berlin 1936
With Adolf Hitler readying himself for war, the Olympics was held in Berlin and the Nazi leader attempted to use the event as a tool to promote his twisted ideolog
Nadia Comaneci - Montreal 1976
The world looked on with wonder and amazement as 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci scored perfect '10s' on the uneven bars, the balance beam
Mary Decker / Zola Budd - Los Angeles 1984
Zola Budd was already a controversial figure before the 1984 Games - a white South African who had chosen, and had been accepted, to compete for G
Paula Radcliffe - Athens 2004
Great Britain's Radcliffe, one of the strong favourites for gold in the marathon, quite literally performed meltdown after her attempts to catch runaway le
Cassius Clay - Rome 1960
Fighting under what he later labelled his 'slave name', the world got its first glimpse of the man who was to be known as Mohamed Ali as he took gold in the
Tommie Smith and John Carlos - Mexico 1968
At a time of heightened racial tensions in America, Smith and Carlos, rather than face the United States flag, bowed their heads and raised gloved
Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani - Sydney 2000
Eric, from Equatorial Guinea, clocked the slowest time for the 100m freestyle in Olympic history as he laboured home in just shy of two minu
Ben Johnson - Seoul 1988
Rated by many as the most scandalous incident in Olympic history, Canada's Johnson left onlookers gasping for breath as he destroyed a world-class 100 metres fi
Terrorist atrocity - Munich 1972
The darkest chapter in the history of the Olympic Games was played out in September 1972 when a group of Palestinian terrorists broke into the Isreali dormi