Originally released in 1996 prior to the Atlanta Games, "Olympica: America's Gold. Volume One, Great Moments of Track and Field" is a 96 minute production featuring 18 running events and 9 field events. After a brief reference to Jim Thorpe in 1912, the speed picks up during the 1932 Olympiad and continues to show one to three American athletes competing in each Olympiad (except the boycotted Moscow games of 1980) until Barcelona 1992. Five women are featured and although many segments run two to three minutes there are five segments that run for five minutes each: Jesse Owens, Rafer Johnson, Billy Mills, Bruce Jenner, and Jackie Joyner Kersey. Here are the runners listed here in chronological order, just as presented in this video: Jim Thorpe (the decathlon winner in the 1912 games in Stolkholm), Babe Didricksen (80 meter hurdle champion in the 1932 Los Angeles games), Jesse Owens (qualifying, second round, and final in the 100 meters as well as the complete 4x100 meter relay where he ran the first leg), Harrison "Bones" Dillard (100 meters in 1948 and high hurdles in 1952 at age 29; he won four golds in all during Olympic competition), Horace Ashenfelter (by winning the 3000 meter steeplechase in Helsinki in 1952, he became the first American to win an Olympic race longer than 800 meters since 1908), 4x100 meter relay (the 1952 race where the United States edges the Soviet Union), Wilma Rudolph (competing in both the 100 and 200 meter sprint events in 1960 Rome), Rafer Johnson (highlighting the close competion between Ucla teammate C.K. Yang who represented Taiwan), Bob Hayes (all the athletes in the Tokyo final are introduced in this 100 meter race), Billy Mills (9 athletes do not complete this 10,000 meter event as Mills runs into the history books as the only American to win this event as he sets a personal best time), Frank Shorter (returning to his birthplace in Munich in 1972, Shorter leads from 15K to the finish), Bruce Jenner (in 1976 he sets a world record as he competed against 28 athletes from 18 countries), Carl Lewis (his 1984 race was the largest 100 meter margin of victory in an Olympic games as he runs 9.99 seconds), Edwin Moses (he extends his 400 meter hurdle race winning streak in winning his second gold medal in Los Angeles), Joan Benoit (in competing against Grete Waitz, Ingred Kristansen, and the oldest track and field competitor at the 1984 games, Joyce Smith, Benoit breaks away early and maintains the gap to win the first women's Olympic marathon), Jackie Joyner Kersey (each of the heptathlon events are shown from Seoul in 1988 as well as contrasted with the 1984 victory), 4x100 meter relay (after all eight lanes are introduced, you see all the handoffs that end with Carl Lewis setting his sixth world record in 37.40 in this event; Nigeria and Cuba round out the medal winners), Gail Devers (her 1992 100 meter victory of 10.82 leads her to the finish in front of Juliet Cuthberth, Irina Privalova, and Gwen Torrence). America often produces a strong track and field team and this production does a good job in highlighting many outstanding American performances.
