1912 Stockholm, Sweden With his unconventional "western roll" high-jumping technique—soon adopted as a standard approach—George Horine, '13, sets a world record at the trials, then goes on to win Stanford's first Olympic medal, a bronze.
1920 Antwerp, Belgium Morris Kirksey, '22, wins gold in two different sports, rugby and track. But the Antwerp authorities refuse to release him to attend the medal ceremony for the 400-meter relay after they catch him, locked out, scaling the wall of the team's hotel.
1924 Paris Four Stanford men -- Al White, '25, Dave Fall, '27, Clarence Pinkston, '21, and Pete Desjardins, '32 -- sweep the six medals in platform and springboard diving. Desjardins scores the first perfect 10 in the sport.
1948 London Two months before the Olympics, 17-year-old Bob Mathias, '53, has never competed in six of the 10 decathlon events. He wins the event, becoming the youngest track and field gold medalist ever -- a distinction he still holds. Four years later, Mathias becomes the first man to win the decathlon twice.
1964 Tokyo The night before the 400-meter medley, his final race of the Olympics, swimmer Dick Roth, '69, is diagnosed with appendicitis. He persuades doctors to delay his operation for a day—and bests his own world record by more than three seconds.
1968 Mexico City The U.S. track and field team, led by Stanford coach Payton Jordan, has its most successful showing ever, garnering 24 golds, including one in the decathlon for Bill Toomey, MA '64.
1972 Munich, Germany "Rocket man" John Hencken, '77, wins gold -- and sets a world record -- in an upset in the 200-meter breaststroke. Hencken also takes home a bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke.
1988 Seoul, South Korea Janet Evans, '93, a little-known 17-year-old, wins three individual gold medals in swimming -- the 400-meter freestyle (setting a world record), the 400-meter individual medley (setting an American record) and the 800-meter freestyle (setting an Olympic record).
1992 Barcelona, Spain A three-time gold medalist at the 1984 Olympics, Pablo Morales, '87, had retired from swimming and entered law school after failing to make the 1988 team. But six months before the 1992 trials, Morales returns to the pool -- and splashes back from retirement to win two gold medals.
1996 Atlanta The U.S. women's gymnastics team needs a 9.6 vault from Kerri Strug, '02, to clinch the team gold -- but she sprains her ankle on her first attempt. In the most enduring image of the Games, Strug sticks a one-footed landing on her second vault -- and scores a 9.712.
-- Christina McCarroll, '00
