The Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee is recognizing and celebrating archives month through a series of blog posts throughout October 2024.

Even if we haven’t been to the Olympics, most of us still have memories associated with them. We asked our Advocacy and Outreach Committee members about their favorite Olympic memories. Here’s what they said:

“More than any other year, I paid attention to the 1996 Olympics. It was so exciting because they were right in the USA! I also was younger and didn’t have a whole lot of other things going on to pull my attention in other directions. 

One thing I remember is that I looked forward to reading the newspaper daily, mainly for the hilarious Olympics related columns from Dave Barry, which ran regularly in the Akron Beacon Journal. I remembered that I would read them aloud to my family, laughing hysterically.

I was obsessed with the women’s gymnastics team and tried to stay caught up with everything there and remember screaming my head off when Kerri Strugg nailed that one-legged landing. I lived for the SNL skits with her and Chris Kattan as Kippy Strugg. I was also a pretty big fan of the Russian men’s team because they had Alexei Nemov and my girlfriends and I were BIG fans. 

I also remember watching with horror when learning of the bombing at the Olympic Park and following all the details of that. That was really the first time I remember following live news updates that we’re so used to having today.”

– Natalie Fritz

“1984, LA Olympics. I was obsessed with the Olympics. I had an Olympic beach towel, my grandparents had a pool. I was sure I was going to be an Olympic swimmer.”

-Jim McKinnon

“I’ve always loved the Olympics. I watch every sport I can, even if I haven’t heard of it. I especially watched religiously during the 2020 Games in Tokyo. It was a positive distraction from so much hardship going on in the world.”

-Sarah Aisenbrey

“Decades before Michael Phelps broke records accumulating gold medals, Mark Spitz set the record of seven gold medals swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The joy I felt as a young swimmer at his athletic achievement was overshadowed by the horror of the death of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes who had been taken hostage by the Palestinian militant organization Black September. The Olympics of 1972 have left me with an indelible memory of triumph and tragedy.”

-Connie Conner

“My favorite memory around the Olympics took place in 1996 a few months before the Games.  My riding instructor and 4H advisor was given tickets to the last Olympic trials that were going to be held at a farm near Canton, Georgia. Her instructor was a coach for the newly formed Eventing team for Brazil. Eventing is a sport where the horse and rider combo compete in three events. The events are dressage, cross country, and show jumping and it is considered to be one of the more extreme equestrian sports. A few days before the event, I along with some other members of our 4H Club packed into a F-350 super cab and drove to Canton, Georgia.  Since we had a connection to a coach, we were able to get to see behind the scenes and I was able to have many of the competitors such as Karen and David O’Connor and Phillip Dutton sign a poster which I still have today. At the end of the event, we were invited to a party where the Brazilian riders taught my friends and I the ‘Macarena.’ Sadly for the Brazilian team they went on to finish second to last but the American won silver.” 

-Collette McDonough

“My favorite memory is from the 2024 Olympics and Quincy Hall, Men 400 Meters in Track.  Hal is not a household name in Men’s Track Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt. Quincy Hall was in fourth place in the last 100 meters of the race and he came back in dramatic fashion to win gold.”

-Jacky Johnson

Last Updated on October 15, 2024 by Emily Gainer