The Most Dominating Olympic Games Performances Ever

We're a busy, easily distracted, football-obsessed culture that doesn't have time to watch Speedo-adorned athletes glide through the water or gymnasts flip between bars on a daily basis. But every four years? Absolutely. We can't pull away, our eyes glued to our living room sets for a 100 meter butterfly heat race. 

That's the power of the Olympics, the pull of the spectacle and national-pride that the games elicit. And never is it more heightened than when an athlete is doing something spectacular. Multiple medals. World records. Endless ceremonies where the flag is raised because of him/her. It does something to all of us. Remember Michael Phelps in 2008? 

He was a national obsession, and is arguably the greatest Olympian ever. That's because of displays of dominance that captivated not only us in America, but around the globe as well. But he's not alone. There have been plenty of others who've also showed the world they were on a level by themselves. 

1984: Carl Lewis

If you're a teenager or a 20-something, Lewis' national anthem fail is what probably comes to mind when you see this Olympic champion's name. Yeesh, it still hurts to hear. Still, it's unfair that one awful singing performance can supplant the memories of how he scorched everyone in 1984. 

Because let's be honest: None of us here have probably sang in public outside of karaoke night, or amassed four gold medals in the same games. 

Lewis did in Los Angeles, besting the world in the in 100 and 200 meters, long jump and 1600 meter relay. By the time his career peaked, he tallied nine gold medals and a silver across the span of four different Olympic games. 

For that Carl, you can sing as much as you want. 

1984: Mary Lou Retton

Same year, but let's move inside to the air-conditioned, yet make-your-palms sweat confines of the gymnastics competition.

Whatever the year or Olympiad number, you can expect this part of the games to be super intense and close. One little mistake equals doom. A bobble = bad. A slip = terrible. A fall (God forbid) while flipping your body between a set of uneven bars = epic, let -your-country-down failure. 

So Retton avoided all that, and finished with a Perfect 10 on the vault and floor exercise to win gold in the All-Around competition. Boycott (Cold War era, remember) or no, it's hard to argue with a literally perfect performance, especially when it was all part of a haul when Retton won five medals overall. 

1988: Matt Biondi

One thing will become pretty apparent from this list, if you didn't already know: The U.S. is really dang good at swimming. If you want an explanation why, just look around. We're blessed enough as a nation to have pools in backyards and community centers and high schools, from Maine to Moraga, Calif, where Matt Biondi is from. We're a factory that cranks out medalists. 

Like Biondi. He proved that in Seoul, where he won gold medals in five events. And in four of those, he set new world records. 

Still, he may have had one more gold if he could have come up 1/100th of a second faster in the 100 fly. 

1988: Kristin Otto

While Biondi was torching the competition on the men's side, Otto was doing the same on the women's side for East Germany. She's the first female to win six gold medals in an Olympiad, a feat she accomplished amid cold war sentiments and the shroud of doping allegations. 

Regardless, Otto remains an Olympic champion who couldn't be stopped in the pool for two weeks in the summer of 1988. As the U.S. coach at the time told Sports Illustrated, "She is certainly one of the greatest women swimmers of all time."

1936: Jesse Owens

You need to know about Jesse Owens. Read up if you don't.  What he did in Berlin was more than just an incredible four-goal medal performance, it was one of those moments where sports became far more than just a competition between a group of athletically inclined men. 

He did this, as Sports Illustrated rightly describes here:

"

[A]t the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the black son of an Alabama sharecropper became an athletic legend when he grabbed Adolf Hitler's toxic theories of racial supremacy and stuffed them in the fuhrer's face by winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and the 4x100 relay.

"

2004: Michael Phelps

Oh, we'll get to 2008. But since 2008 was so special, captivating and electric, its sometimes gets a little lost in the sports lexicon that Phelps won six gold medals in Athens while adding a pair of bronze. 

Not bad for a 19-year-old. While most American kids that age are hitting treadmills to burn off their "Freshman 15s," Phelps was schooling everyone while nipping at the heels of Mark Spitz (more on him later). 

This performance is what put him on a national level of recognition (not a barely remembered, two-weeks of fame type Olympian), and began the monumental levels of hype for what he would do heading into Beijing in 2008. 

1992: Vitaly Scherbo

Here's the basics: 

Scherbo represented the Unified Team, which is a story unto itself. Short version: A grouping of former Soviet Bloc countries.

Scherbo owned men's gymnastics in Barcelona, from the vault to the parallel bars to the rings, making him one of the most dominant Olympians ever. 

He won six of the eight possible gold medals in men's gymnastics, or to put it in baseball terms, he batted .750. 

Only Spitz (we'll get to him, promise) and Phelps have won more medals in a single Olympic games. 

1992: Dream Team

Sure, it's been an individual list up to this point, but the terms "dominant" and "Olympics" can't come together without the original "Dream Team" being mentioned. 

What a spectacle it was, even if their route to gold was so lopsided. (They won by nearly 44 points a game.) All the bigger-than-life NBA stars on one team, punking everybody, making the rest of the world look like satellite teams for the Washington Generals. (If you feel like quizzing yourself, see if you can name the whole roster ...)

So, so awesome. Though B-ball fans also owe a big thank you to the 1989 decision that allowed professionals to compete. 

1972: Mark Spitz

Before there was Michael Phelps, there was Mark Spitz. He was the Phelps of the 1970s, so dominant that his record stood for more than 30 years. 

In Munich, Spitz swam his way into lore by earning himself seven gold medals. But establishing himself as the world's best for that four-year span wasn't enough. No, in all seven events he entered, he hopped out of the water as the new world record holder. 

Insane. 

That's why, at the age of 22 no less, Spitz retired from swimming after the games ended. He exited on top, where he stayed until 2008. 

2008: Michael Phelps

Everyone watched Phelps. You couldn't not watch Phelps in 2008. It was just so captivating, his chase to an unprecedented eight gold medals. You didn't need to know about butterfly and breaststroke etiquette (two-hand touch on the wall) or how to execute a proper flip-turn, you just had to appreciate this All-American looking kid going for what nearly seemed impossible. 

Then he did it. It was excruciating in its closeness, but he did it. 

No debate here. This was something special.