I might be stretching things with this post, but I was wondering what we all thought about the best sports performance of the century.
My pick is Jesse Owens for his performance in 1936, Berlin.
Thoughts?
Rupert
CharlieFrancis.com
Rupert, how about Muhammad Ali’s win over a heavily favored George Foreman in 1974 to reclaim the heavyweight title after losing 3 1/2 of his BEST years due to forced idleness? 
Billy mills… 10k it may not be that big a deal to PR in the 1/2 distance en-route to an Olympic victory in th 100m, but it’s a BIG deal for a 10k runner to PR in the 5k en route.
That was a good pick.
Last years backend sweep of the NY Yankees by the Sox.
USA hockey over Russia
Jesse, yes.
19.32
There was a wonderful movie made about Billy Mills in the early '80’s called Running Brave starring Robby Benson. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend tracking down a copy. It’s up there with Chariots of Fire.
1989 tour de france
lemond winning by 7 seconds
jan zelezny 98.28meter world record
My near defeat and subsequent victory over a violent Black Squarrel up in Northen Michigan last summer. The thing must have stalked me for 2-3 days, it could read my mind. It knew my next move before I did. I bent down to do a start at a track I was practicing at. As I bent down it threw itself pon’ my back. I just leaped out of the blocks like I had trained myself to do. Somehow he got caught in the weight sled I was dragging and got obliterated.
I am in tears right now.
Some o them Squarls got the Rabies too. You lucky to be alive. That one was clearly a killa squarl. You a hero now.
How about Mike Powell breaking Beamon’s altitude LJ WR at sea level, in the world champ final (performance when and where it mattered) - and Boy Carl in the process? (But neither had the stress of pre-War Nazi Germany to contend with)
Aye, Squirrels aire tough but yer safe from peril till ya meet a killer Rabbit!
Ala Jimmy Carter.
God has given me the ability. The rest is up to me. Believe. Believe. Believe.
– Billy Mills, diary entry
As much as it pains me to say it, being a NYY fan, I have to say the Sox win in the '04 ALCS takes it. Given the cirumstances and the 3-0 deficit, it’s really unbelievbale what they did. Unfortunetely it made the WS very anti-climatic.
As in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Rabbits were the least of Carter’s problems. His vascillation, bungling, and meddling in the White House tennis court assignments while Rome burned led to the plague of Ferrets, which infects the White House to this day.
Killer Rabbits canna hold a candle to the deadliest beastie of em all- the Great Greenback Grubbing Bypass Ferret from county Halliburton.
Johnson 88 & Harry 60
19.32 johnson
10.49 the funny dressed girl 
The 1998 New York Yankees. Greatest baseball team ever.
Overall record of 125-50. No All-Stars, no one with more than 28 home runs that season. Still they outscored their opponents by 311 runs over the season (nearly 2 runs a game)
They had the division title clinched in August and went 11-2 in the playoffs.
Darryl Sittler deserves some recognition too though, February 7, 1976, 10 points in one game. 6 goals, 4 assists.
29 years later, and still no one has come with 1 point of that magical night, and the last person to get 8 points in a game was on Dec 31, 1988 (Mario Lemieux)