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My favorite combat sports Olympics moment of all time

What Olympic moment stands out to you the most?

By Amy Kaplan

19 Jul 1996: Muhammad Ali holds the torch before lighting the Olympic Flame during the Opening Cere
19 Jul 1996: Muhammad Ali holds the torch before lighting the Olympic Flame during the Opening Cere / Michael Cooper/GettyImages
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I wanted to put together a list of moments from combat sports athletes throughout the history of the Olympics but there's one moment that just kept coming into my mind and frankly, I think it deserves its own feature. So, that's what I'm going to do and no one can stop me.

I remember as a kid being really into the Olympics. I loved gymnastics and ice skating and after Cool Runnings came out, I couldn't get enough of bobsledding. But nothing will ever top the feelings I got when I watched Muhammad Ali light the torch at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. I was 15 and I was just really starting to learn how scary the world was. The Oklahoma City bombing had happened the year before, OJ Simpson was acquitted and the Bosnian War was raging. Little did I know that just weeks later another bombing would occur at the very Olympics I was watching.

As a young girl, I must have already had a connection with combat sports that I never accepted until later in life because I was glued to the TV watching Ali carry the torch on the last leg of the relay to light the Olympic flame. I can still see him shaking and trembling his way over to his mark. He looked so weak and so strong all at the very same time. It's a visual I could describe in detail like it's etched on my skull like ancient cave paintings.

Watch Muhammad Ali light the Olympic torch in 1996

I think is really a symbol of what I like best about the Olympics. It's not just sport. It's emotion. There is raw energy coursing through every moment if you look close enough. It's where dreams are made and dreams are crushed.

I think of the Olympic moments my own child might remember. Will he look back on Simone Biles leaving the 2021 Olympics as an acto fo bravery and sacrifice? Will he understand that Ryan Lochte's fake robbery was dangerous and xenophobic? Will he be around when the Olympics finally recognizes MMA? There's so much history still left to be made and its important we also don't forget the moments that shaped us along the way.

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