It’s Almost Here! Here Are The Greatest Ever Olympic Moments!

The likes of Usain Bolt, Chris Hoy, Yohan Blake and Michael Phelps are all destined to perform in the English capital over the next few weeks and they'll be looking to cement their place in the hearts of millions with their efforts.

The Olympics are regarded as the pinnacle of the athletic calendar, with events occurring relentlessly over several days with their consequences shaping the sporting world for the next four years.

But what have been the truly stupendous Olympic occasions? Events that have transcended sport and become historic scenarios in their own right? Well, here is a list of the greatest ever Olympic moments.

Jesse Owens, Berlin 1936 - I can only imagine that it's as tough mentally as it is physically to perform on the Olympic stage. Every preying eye in the stadium is fixated on you and there are tens of millions of people from around the world watching on their televisions and listening on their radios too. Now, this can only be exponentially exacerbated when you know that these people are judging you based entirely on the colour of your skin. Berlin in 1936 was run by Adolf Hitler and his gang of ridiculous idiots. They decided it was the perfect stage to showcase that aryan was the most dominant race on the planet. Cue, Jesse Owens whose 4 gold medals showed that these racist buffoons were nothing more than a hoard of scare mongering cretins.

Michael Phelps, Beijing 2008 - 8 gold medals in 8 days was the target, simply writing down that sentence was tiring so god only knows how Michael Phelps was able to accomplish such a feat. In a variety of swimming events Phelps outdid Mark Spitz's seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics to claim the most individual medals ever won at a single games setting seven new world records and an Olympic one on his way. What's the best week you've ever had?

Usain Bolt, Beijing 2008 - There's a reason why the last Olympics has been labelled the greatest games ever. Phelps feat was almost overshadowed by a certain Jamaican who demolished the world record for 100m and he didn't even try for the last 30 of them. The image of Bolt pacing along the track with his arms out stretched is now implanted into the minds of the millions who saw him run that day. Can he do it again in London though?

Bob Beamon, Mexico City 1968 - Bob Beamon had only just qualified for the long jump final having overstepped on his first two attempts in qualifying. So when he pelted towards the board on October 18th in the 1968 Olympic's final no-one and I mean no-one expected him to smash the world record. But he did, bettering it by 55cm. It was so shocking that when it as announced to him, Beamon collapsed to his knees in shock and placed his hands over his face.