10 pre-Olympic performances that stunned the sports world
These athletes delivered big time
Summer is here and the Rio Olympics are weeks away, but many superstar athletes have yet to secure their spots.
A handful of big teams will hold Rio trials in July. The best U.S. swimmers are in Omaha, Neb., this week trying to make the elite Olympic team. The Canada and U.S. track and field teams will also hold their respective selections.
There is always heated discussion over the merits and downfalls of having a trials, or any other high-pressure competition, mere weeks from the Olympic Games. Some say this impedes better results at the big show. Others believe it shouldn't matter, and that the best athletes perform when necessary. Still, there have been several breathtaking performances prior to the Olympics.
Here are some that caught our attention:
5,000-metres, twice the history
Ethiopian runners Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba delivered on their 5,000-metre world records in the months leading up to their respective Olympics. Dibaba, nicknamed the baby-faced destroyer, sped to her world record in June before winning gold at the 2008 Beijing. Bekele ran his on the last day of May 2004, before going on to win silver in Athens.
Medley throw down
The 400-metre individual medley is one of swimming's most gruelling events. At their Olympic trials in June 2008, U.S. swimmers Katie Hoff and Michael Phelps made statements to the Olympic field by breaking world records. Phelps went on to win the event at Beijing's Water Cube, one of his historic eight Olympic gold medals, while Hoff finished third.
Big boat, quick race
It's the fastest boat in rowing and at a World Cup event at the end of May 2012, the Canadian men's eight powered to a world best time over the 2,000-metre distance. The team went on to win silver in London, but its bonafide world record still stands.
The biggest toss
It's still the discus world record, and the throw of 76.80-metres flew off the hand of German Gabriele Reinsch in July of 1988. Obviously, this one was not shot in 4K. Competing for East Germany, Reinsch placed seventh at the Seoul Olympics two months later.
Longest leap
Here's another track and field world record from the days of videotape. Galina Chistyakova launches herself 7.52-metres in June of 1988. That's almost 25-feet. Representing the USSR in Seoul, Chistyakova won the bronze medal but her world record has yet to be broken.
Bolt and Blake shock the world
On May 31, 2008 a Jamaican named Usain Bolt ran a 9.72 at a meet in New York. The world record put all sprinters on notice. Bolt would go on to shave the world record down to 9.69 during his gold-medal run in Beijing.
By 2012 Bolt had become sport royalty, but countryman Yohan Blake would make his case for supremacy at Jamaican Olympic trials.
Henderson makes history
A three-foot putt during a playoff hole was the winning stroke for Canadian Brooke Henderson at the women's PGA Championship this June. It was the 18-year-old's first major victory. Henderson also became the second youngest woman to win a major championship, behind Lydia Ko, who Henderson beat in that playoff. Henderson is a medal threat in golf's Olympic return this summer.
How many plates is that?
In this video from May 31 of this year, Iranian weightlifter Kianoush Rostami lifts 220-kilograms (485 lbs) set a clean and jerk world record. The 2012 London medallist from the 85-kg category also set a world record for the combination of the snatch with the clean and jerk disciplines.