Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #31 - Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#10 among American Olympians

#7 among Track & Field Athletes

#7 among Male American Olympians

#5 among American Track & Field Athletes

#5 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#4 among American Male Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

1936

100m - Gold

200m - Gold

4x100m Relay - Gold

Long Jump - Gold

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 4

James Cleveland Owens was born on September 12, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, and moved to Cleveland with his family when he was 9 years old. He went by his initials, JC, when he was young, but his new teacher in Cleveland misunderstood his southern accent when he gave his name, and from then on he was known as Jesse.

He grew up in a poor family, so he had to work after school to help support his family, but the junior high track coach allowed him to practice before school. During his senior year of high school, he tied the world record in the 100 yard dash. He later went to Ohio State, where he won 8 NCAA titles in just 2 years, which is still the most NCAA titles by any athlete in history.

While at Ohio State, he also had what has been called the greatest 45 minutes in sports history. At the Big Ten Championships, he set 6 world records in less than an hour, going straight from one event to the next, including the 100 yard dash, long jump, 220 yard dash, 220 yard hurdles, 200 meters, and 200 meter hurdles.

The next year, he represented the USA at the Berlin Olympics. His first event was the 100m, where he showed his skill by outrunning the entire competition, with teammate Ralph Metcalfe coming in just 0.1 second behind, but Owens' time tied the Olympic record, and earned him his first gold medal.

He was the favorite in the long jump, where he was the world record holder. He had the best qualifying jump at 7.64 meters, then took the lead immediately in the final with a jump of 7.74 meters. His next jump of 7.87 would have been enough to win gold by itself, but he beat that jump 2 more times, finishing up with a leap of 8.06 meters, destroying the old Olympic record of 7.76 meters and winning a second gold medal.

The next day, he competed in the 200m, where he was now the favorite after what he had done the previous 2 days. He broke the Olympic record by 0.5 seconds, and set a new world record as well, finishing 0.4 seconds ahead of Mack Robinson, who is best known as the older brother of Jackie Robinson. This was his third gold medal in 3 days.

He was initially not expected to run in the 4x100m relay, but the coach decided to switch up the lineup at the last minute by removing a couple of Jewish athletes from the event. Jesse ran the lead-off leg in both the heats and the final, and they set world records in both rounds, finishing with 39.8 seconds in the final, and they beat Italy by 1.3 seconds to take an easy gold.

Owens faced a lot of struggles after returning to America. Despite being honored by a parade and reception on his return, he was still forced to enter the hotel where the banquet was held by the back entrance due to his race. He later had to resort to racing against horses, motorcycles, and cars in exhibitions in order to earn money. He began smoking during the 1940s, and it eventually led to his early death of lung cancer in 1980.

In his lone Olympic appearance, Owens won gold in all 4 events he entered, and he did the whole thing right in front of Adolf Hitler, who considered black athletes to be inferior to whites. Not only did he win gold in each event, but he set Olympic records in each event, and world records in two of them. His cultural impact may be the largest of any Olympic athlete ever, but his athletic achievements easily make him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #32 - Toyokazu Nomura

Toyokazu Nomura

Japan

Judo

Overall Ranks

#4 among Japanese Olympians

#1 among Judoka

Olympic Results

1972

Half-Middleweight - Gold

Total

Events - 1

Gold - 1

Toyokazu Nomura was born on July 14, 1949 in Koryo, Japan, into a family of judoka. His father owned a local judo dojo, and his brother was a coach. He won silver medals in the lightweight division at the World Championships in both 1969 and 1971, then won the Japanese championship in half-middleweight in 1972, which earned him their spot on the Olympic team.

It was only the second time that judo was being contested at the Olympics, after it debuted 8 years earlier in Tokyo. Some people weren't sure whether he would be able to win the gold, as he had recently moved up a weight class, and had never won the world title at the lower weight. 

He was given a first-round bye, and in his first match, he beat his Taiwanese opponent by ippon, the highest score possible in judo, in just 57 seconds. His next two matches each took over 3 minutes each, but he won each by ippon as well. That moved him to the semifinal, where he scored his 4th straight ippon, this time in 3:39, which put him in the final. The final wasn't even a contest, as he threw his opponent in just 27 seconds to secure the gold medal to earn his first major international title and his first Olympic gold medal.

He won the world championship the next year, further legitimizing his Olympic gold, then retired to become a schoolteacher. He is the only judoka in Olympic history with a perfect record of winning every bout by ippon, the equivalent of winning every boxing match by knockout, which makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Football Predictions - 13 thru 19 Oct

Upset picks are in italics.

Tuesday

Delaware at Middle Tennessee - Blue Raiders by 6.5

FIU at Jacksonville State - Gamecocks by 6

Wednesday

Kennesaw State at Missouri State - Owls by 2

Western Kentucky at Sam Houston - Bearkats by 10

Thursday

East Carolina at UAB - Pirates by 1.5

Georgia Southern at Old Dominion - Eagles by 3

Colorado State at Texas State - Bobcats by 12

Seattle at Denver - Seahawks by 0.5

Friday

Memphis at Tulane - Tigers by 6

Washington at Purdue - Boilermakers by 17.5

App State at Coastal Carolina - Chanticleers by 6.5

Saturday

(4) Ohio State at (5) Indiana - Hoosiers by 3

Florida at (7) Texas - Longhorns by 14

(16) Mississippi State at (22) LSU - Tigers by 8.5

Virginia at (24) SMU - Mustangs by 6.5

(25) Northwestern at Michigan State - Wildcats by 5

Cincinnati at West Virginia - Mountaineers by 4.5

Kansas at Kansas State - Wildcats by 7

Charleston Southern at Clemson - Tigers by 28.5

Pittsburgh at Boston College - Panthers by 13

FAU at Army - Black Knights by 3.5

Ball State at Bowling Green - Falcons by 6

Georgia State at James Madison - Dukes by 10.5

Rutgers at Maryland - Terrapins by 18

Citadel at Texas A&M - Aggies by 28

Charlotte at Temple - Owls by 19

UMass at Buffalo - Bulls by 1

Western Michigan at Central Michigan - Broncos by 3.5

Auburn at (1) Georgia - Bulldogs by 22.5

(6) Alabama at (14) Tennessee - Crimson Tide by 10

(13) Missouri at (9) Ole Miss - Rebels by 0.5

Arizona State at (10) Texas Tech - Red Raiders by 27.5

Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech - Hokies by 17.5

North Carolina at Duke - Blue Devils by 3

Penn State at Michigan - Wolverines by 3

Northern Illinois at Wyoming - Cowboys by 11.5

UNLV at Air Force - Falcons by 6.5

Toledo at Eastern Michigan - Eagles by 2

Akron at Miami (OH) - Redhawks by 15.5

Tulsa at Rice - Owls by 0.5

Troy at Louisiana - Ragin Cajuns by 8

Washington State at Oregon State - Beavers by 27.5

Florida State at (3) Miami - Hurricanes by 24.5

Arkansas at Vanderbilt - Commodores by 3.5

TCU at Baylor - Bears by 9.5

Kent State at South Florida - Bulls by 15

Nevada at North Dakota State - Bison by 21

Arkansas State at Southern Miss - Red Wolves by 1

(2) Notre Dame at (8) BYU - Irish by 4.5

Wisconsin at (12) UCLA - Bruins by 17.5

(15) Kentucky at Oklahoma - Sooners by 4

(18) Oklahoma State at (20) Houston - Cougars by 13

Elon at Stanford - Cardinal by 15

Louisville at Syracuse - Orange by 1.5

Navy at UTSA - Roadrunners by 9.5

Louisiana Tech at UL Monroe - Bulldogs by 9

San Jose State at UTEP - Miners by 0.5

Ohio at Sacramento State - Bobcats by 11

(11) Utah at Colorado - Utes by 10

(21) Wake Forest at California - Demon Deacons by 6

Fresno State at San Diego State - Bulldogs by 3

New Mexico at Hawaii - Lobos by 20.5

Nebraska at Oregon - Ducks by 6.5

Sunday

Houston vs. Jacksonville - Jaguars by 14

Chicago at Atlanta - Bears by 4

Baltimore at Cleveland - Ravens by 0.5

Tennessee at Indianapolis - Colts by 11

NY Jets at New England - Patriots by 10

New Orleans at NY Giants - Saints by 2

Carolina at Philadelphia - Panthers by 8.5

Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay - Steelers by 2

Arizona at LA Rams - Rams by 11.5

LA Chargers at Kansas City - Chiefs by 19

Buffalo at Las Vegas - Bills by 2

Dallas at Green Bay - Packers by 5.5

Monday

Washington at San Francisco - 49ers by 20

Results

NCAA: 35-23 (.603) 346-102 overall (.772)

Upsets: 4-10 (.286) 27-56 overall (.325)

NFL: 9-6 (.600) 46-33 overall (.582)

Upsets: 2-2 (.500) 7-11 overall (.389)

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #33 - Sun Yingsha

Sun Yingsha

China

Table Tennis

Overall Ranks

#2 among Chinese Olympians

#2 among Table Tennis Players

#1 among Female Table Tennis Players

Olympic Results

2020

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

2024

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

Mixed Doubles - Gold

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 3

Silver - 2

Sun Yingsha was born on November 4, 2000 in Shijiazhuang, China, and was trained in table tennis from an early age in a Chinese sports school. She made the national team at age 16, and competed in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games the next year, where she won gold in both the singles and team events. 

By the time the 2020 Olympics came around in 2021, she was ranked #2 in the world behind Chen Meng (#39), so the pair were selected to represent China in the singles event. After receiving a bye to the third round, Sun swept 4 straight opponents 4-0 to reach the final, but after beating Chen in the first game of their match, she lost 4 of the next 5 and ended up with the silver medal.

The medalists were joined by Wang Manyu, ranked #4 in the world, for the team event, where China had never lost. Out of 40 games played in 4 rounds, the trio lost only 4 games, a win percentage of 90%, and they easily won the gold medal over Japan, who was responsible for 2 of the games lost by China. It was the first Olympic gold medal for Sun.

In February 2022, Sun surpassed Chen to take over the world #1 ranking for the first time. She maintained that ranking long enough to be the #1 seed in the 2024 Olympics, and she was chosen to represent China in the mixed doubles event, along with Wang Chuqin, the #1 ranked male player. The pair had competed together for a while, and were the #1 ranked pair in the world as well.

The doubles competition was closer than they would have liked. After an easy sweep of Egypt in the first round, they fell behind Taiwan 2-1 in the quarterfinals, before winning 3 games in a row to advance. Their semifinal match against South Korea was the same story, with China rallying from 2-1 down in games to win 4-2 to advance to the final. They faced a surprising North Korean team in the final, and this time they never fell behind, but still needed 6 games to win the gold medal.

In the singles event, she was the #1 seed, but there were no longer byes for higher seeds. Instead, she had to face 5 rounds to reach the final, which she did again with 5 straight sweeps, leading to a rematch with Chen. She won the first game against Chen, then fell behind 2-1 before tying it up at 2-2, but Chen finished stronger, and repeated as gold medalist 4-2, while Sun had to settle for another silver.

The same trio returned for the team event, with Wang now ranked #3 in the world, and the top 3 players didn't let anyone else have a chance. This time, they won 36 of 41 total games to sweep every match, defeating Japan 9-3 in the final to repeat as gold medalists.

Sun remained the #1 ranked player in the world until 3 weeks ago, when she was surpassed by Wang, her teammate. She is still in position to compete in the 2028 Olympics, and she would definitely like to finally win an individual gold medal, but with the medals she has already earned, she is one of the greatest Olympians of all time regardless.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #34 - Ryan Crouser

Ryan Crouser

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#11 among American Olympians

#8 among Track & Field Athletes

#8 among Male American Olympians

#6 among American Track & Field Athletes

#6 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#5 among American Male Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

2016

Shot Put - Gold

2020

Shot Put - Gold

2024

Shot Put - Gold

Total

Events - 3

Gold - 3

Ryan Crouser was born on December 18, 1992 in Portland, Oregon, and raised in nearby Boring, and came from a family of great throwers. His father was an alternate on the 1984 Olympic team in discus, his uncle Brian competed twice in the Olympic javelin event, and his cousin Sam also competed in Olympic javelin.

He started throwing competitively in fifth grade, and by his sophomore year, he set a national sophomore record in the discus, which was broken the next year by his cousin, Sam. During his senior year, he broke the national high school records in both discus and shot put, then went to the University of Texas, where he won 4 straight NCAA titles in shot put.

At the 2016 Olympic Trials, Crouser upset defending world champion Joe Kovacs to earn a spot on the team in Rio, where Kovacs joined him. Crouser led after qualifying with a throw of 21.59 meters on his only throw, passing on his final 2 attempts since he already knew he would make the final. 

After the first round of throws in the final, Crouser was in third place, with Kovacs in the lead, but on his second throw, he cleared 22.22 meters, which would be enough to win the gold medal. He beat that distance twice more during the competition, and set a new Olympic record with his 5th throw, which went 22.52 meters, and ended up winning the gold easily, by 0.74 meters (more than 2 feet), after posting the 4 best throws of the competition.

He finished 6th in the world championships the next year, and finished #2 in 2019, .01 meters behind Kovacs. Early in 2021, he set a new world record of 22.82 meters, then broke it again at the Olympic Trials, where he threw 23.37 meters, earning the right to defend his gold medal in Tokyo.

In that event, the three medalists were all returning, but Crouser was the favorite after his amazing spring. He led after qualifying again, and again used only 1 throw in that round, to advance to the final. He broke his own Olympic record on his first throw of the final, throwing 22.83 meters, then beat the old record on the next 5 throws as well, finishing up with a new record of 23.3 meters, just short of his own world record. This time, in winning the gold medal, he had the 5 best throws of the competition, and he won by 0.65 meters.

He finally won his first World Championship in 2022, then repeated in 2023, while also setting a new world record of 23.56 meters in 2023. He again won the Olympic Trials, earning him the right to represent the USA at his third straight Olympics.

At the Olympics in Paris, he was the favorite to become the first ever to threepeat in the shot put. He qualified easily for the final on a single throw again, but this time it was only the #4 throw in qualifying. In the final, he threw 22.64 on his first throw, which would be enough for the gold medal. He beat that distance on each of his next two throws, eventually finishing with 22.90 before the rain started to fall and he faulted or passed on his final 3 throws. He ended up winning by 0.75 meters, his largest margin of victory yet, and became the first to win three in a row.

He also won his third straight world championship in 2025, and is still actively competing and is still the best in the world. He has 6 of the 8 best throws in history, and has a real chance to win an unprecedented 4th gold medal in the event in 2028. Even if he were done today, he would have already established himself as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

NCAA Football Rankings - 11 Oct

#1 Alabama lost yesterday at home to Georgia by a field goal, which would normally drop a team out of the #1 spot, but Alabama was already rated nearly 3 points better than Notre Dame last week, and the Irish blowout over a terrible Stanford team didn't help them move up, leaving the Tide at the top. Georgia moved up to #5 with the win, right behind UCLA, who had an impressive road win at Oregon. LSU's loss to Kentucky dropped them out of the top 10, a spot that was filled by Indiana, who avoided the upset at Nebraska yesterday. Here are my full current rankings:

						Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L
1	1	Alabama	-27.8	5	1	10	2
2	2	Notre Dame	-25.04	6	0	11	1
3	3	Miami	-23.93	5	0	11	1
4	4	UCLA	-22.38	5	0	12	0
5	7	Georgia	-21.35	6	0	11	1
6	6	Ohio State	-20.25	5	1	9	3
7	9	Houston	-18.93	5	1	10	2
8	5	Texas	-17.89	4	1	9	3
9	8	Texas Tech	-17.55	5	0	11	1
10	11	Indiana	-17.51	6	0	11	1
11	10	LSU	-17.32	4	2	8	4
12	13	Missouri	-15.74	5	1	9	3
13	17	Oregon	-14.88	3	2	8	4
14	15	BYU	-14.88	5	0	10	2
15	14	Utah	-14.62	5	0	10	2
16	16	Mississippi St	-14.55	4	1	9	3
17	12	Nebraska	-14.4	5	1	9	3
18	23	Boise State	-13.5	5	1	9	2
19	34	Wake Forest	-13.16	5	1	10	2
20	26	Oregon State	-13.09	4	2	8	3
21	21	Tennessee	-12.19	5	1	8	4
22	20	Northwestern	-12.15	4	2	8	5
23	25	New Mexico	-12.03	4	1	10	2
24	22	James Madison	-11.92	6	0	11	1
25	28	Kentucky	-11.76	5	1	8	4
26	29	Oklahoma State	-11.75	4	1	8	4
27	38	South Carolina	-11.74	3	3	6	6
28	18	Wisconsin	-10.94	3	2	7	5
29	39	Arizona	-10.62	5	1	9	3
30	53	Ole Miss	-10.59	4	1	8	4
31	27	UCF	-10.3	3	3	7	5
32	30	Baylor	-10.29	4	1	7	5
33	24	Pittsburgh	-10.28	5	1	9	3
34	50	Oklahoma	-10.03	3	2	6	6
35	31	North Dakota State	-9.861	5	1	10	2
36	19	Florida	-9.744	4	2	7	5
37	40	North Carolina	-9.698	3	2	7	5
38	36	Memphis	-8.532	5	1	9	3
39	45	Liberty	-8.071	5	1	10	2
40	49	USC	-7.75	6	1	7	5
41	55	Purdue	-7.584	3	3	6	6
42	61	Louisville	-7.502	3	3	6	6
43	37	Georgia State	-7.359	4	1	9	3
44	35	Virginia Tech	-7.196	4	2	8	4
45	43	TCU	-6.878	2	3	5	7
46	44	Duke	-6.857	4	1	8	4
47	54	Clemson	-6.783	3	2	7	5
48	58	Iowa	-6.771	5	1	8	4
49	42	Texas A&M	-6.071	3	3	5	7
50	32	Penn State	-5.973	4	2	8	4
51	51	North Texas	-5.65	4	2	8	4
52	33	Florida State	-5.158	3	3	6	6
53	46	UT San Antonio	-4.836	5	1	9	3
54	41	Fresno State	-4.804	4	2	7	4
55	48	Auburn	-4.766	3	2	5	7
56	66	Iowa State	-3.686	3	3	5	7
57	81	Air Force	-3.42	4	1	9	3
58	78	West Michigan	-3.415	4	2	9	3
59	68	Michigan	-3.266	3	2	5	7
60	69	Syracuse	-3.023	2	3	5	7
61	75	UNLV	-2.925	4	2	8	4
62	57	Kansas State	-2.804	3	2	6	6
63	65	Maryland	-2.783	2	4	5	7
64	76	Illinois	-2.745	3	3	5	7
65	67	Florida Atlantic	-2.549	4	1	7	5
66	64	South Florida	-2.204	4	2	8	4
67	73	Georgia Southern	-2.139	2	4	6	6
68	62	Tulsa	-2.077	3	3	7	5
69	63	SMU	-2.044	4	1	7	5
70	59	Texas State	-1.954	2	3	5	6
71	93	Connecticut	-1.841	3	3	6	6
72	79	Kansas	-1.482	2	3	4	8
73	52	Michigan St	-1.372	2	4	4	8
74	60	Virginia	-1.353	4	2	6	6
75	90	California	-1.312	3	3	6	6
76	84	Navy	-1.199	2	3	5	7
77	77	East Carolina	-0.933	3	2	7	5
78	87	Ohio	-0.451	4	2	8	4
79	85	Jacksonville State	-0.409	4	2	8	4
80	56	Army	-0.325	3	2	6	6
81	100	Florida Intl	-0.294	3	2	7	5
82	88	Louisiana	-0.22	4	2	8	4
83	89	Cincinnati	-0.19	4	1	6	6
84	102	South Alabama	0.1844	4	2	8	4
85	71	Minnesota	0.3895	4	2	5	7
86	72	Louisiana Tech	0.6373	3	2	7	5
87	70	West Virginia	0.9933	3	3	5	7
88	92	Colorado	1.075	2	3	4	8
89	47	Toledo	1.7057	4	2	8	4
90	98	Troy	1.734	3	2	6	6
91	99	Arkansas	1.7702	2	4	3	9
92	80	UMass	2.7553	4	2	7	5
93	91	Sam Houston	3.125	1	4	5	7
94	106	Tulane	3.2308	2	3	5	7
95	95	Rice	3.4743	1	5	3	9
96	110	Miami (OH)	3.5911	3	3	6	6
97	82	NC State	3.6658	3	3	5	7
98	86	San Diego State	3.8307	2	4	4	7
99	97	Arkansas State	3.9423	2	4	5	7
100	104	Arizona State	4.059	3	2	4	8
101	94	Washington	4.0599	3	3	4	8
102	105	Colorado State	4.0666	2	3	4	7
103	83	Vanderbilt	4.1491	3	3	4	8
104	103	Kennesaw State	4.2381	1	4	4	8
105	116	Georgia Tech	4.4597	2	3	3	9
106	74	Temple	5.0071	2	4	5	7
107	128	Nevada	5.2276	2	3	5	7
108	111	Coastal Carolina	5.4725	2	4	4	8
109	101	Eastern Michigan	5.4924	4	3	6	6
110	109	Central Michigan	5.7427	3	3	6	6
111	96	Appalachian St	5.9114	3	2	6	6
112	114	UAB	6.408	3	3	5	7
113	122	Old Dominion	6.6649	2	4	5	7
114	108	New Mexico St	6.8223	2	4	5	7
115	126	Stanford	6.9939	2	4	4	8
116	112	Kent State	7.1856	2	4	5	7
117	127	West Kentucky	7.2466	2	4	4	8
118	117	Mid Tennessee	7.5194	2	3	5	7
119	133	Buffalo	7.6256	3	3	6	6
120	107	San Jose State	7.9942	3	3	5	8
121	115	Delaware	8.0066	2	3	5	7
122	113	Utah State	8.1477	2	4	3	8
123	121	Washington St	8.4731	1	5	2	9
124	119	Boston College	8.7394	2	3	3	9
125	123	Rutgers	9.2907	1	4	2	10
126	130	Wyoming	9.6114	3	3	5	7
127	120	Ball State	9.9031	1	5	4	8
128	132	Bowling Green	9.9852	2	4	4	8
129	125	Southern Miss	10.801	1	4	3	9
130	124	Marshall	12.055	3	3	5	7
131	118	Missouri State	12.116	1	4	3	9
132	129	UTEP	13.207	1	5	3	9
133	134	Akron	13.38	1	5	2	10
134	136	Hawaii	14.426	1	5	3	9
135	135	Northern Illinois	15.395	0	5	2	10
136	137	Louisiana Monroe	15.653	0	5	2	10
137	131	Sacramento State	16.488	1	5	2	10
138	138	Charlotte	18.203	0	6	1	11