There were Olga Korbut, Carl Lewis, Bonnie Blair, Katarina Witt, Nadia Comaneci, Brian Boitano, Peggy Fleming, and Wilma Rudolph. There was a boxer in 1960 named Cassius Clay, who became Muhammad Ali. Owens's mighty achievements flew all over Hitler, who had hoped to use the Games to demonstrate the superiority of an Aryan race. Yet, way too often politics rears its disruptive head. That's because anyone with a cause knows using the Olympics to make its point will ensure that its point is made.
Scandals are ongoing, too.
The public seems strangely unconcerned. A recent survey in Japan says that while 82 percent of the people knew about the vote-buying involving Salt Lake City, only 9.5 percent said they had lost interest in the Olympics because of it. Few seemed to pay much attention. Ultimately, drugs pose the biggest threat to the Olympics. Nations can't agree on what to do.