What is the most iconic photo in sports history?

[Gaucho]

I believe that thread exists somewhere in NHR.

Yea, but it's from like 2 years ago so that data is useless.

Maybe it's old enough to be iconic, though.

[Lt. Dish]

Came to post this one, WK. Well done.

Also, I didn't see this:

Spoiler:

[Gaucho]

Nadia Komaneci?

[Lt. Dish]

Nadia Komaneci?

Yes. Actually, the more famous photo is just the scoreboard. I admittedly cheated and posted a lesser one with her in the photo for context

She essentially "broke" the scoring system when she scored 7 perfect 10s at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. A perfect 10 was always deemed impossible, so no scoreboard could reflect it. It changed an entire sport, and she became an international phenomenon.

The Olympics have provided so many amazing moments...

[ulf]

[cheesesteakwithegg]

I didn't see this one. Definitely one of my favorites...

Spoiler:

[Gaucho]

[dodint]

I didn't see this one. Definitely one of my favorites...

Spoiler:

[BuckintheLou]

Foul?

[Rylan]

For me, an iconic picture transcends the sport and is able to become art. I think the age of the iconic photo in sports is going to become less and less. It used to be that the only way to remember greatness of an event was the article in the paper with the picture that is the emotion to the piece. Ali's picture over Liston, Nameth running off the field, Jordan's gravity defiance, and many others were our only look into that moment. In the modern world, we have GIFs that show the story, we have instant access to videos and 24/7 news. Idk, I could be wrong, but I can't recall a recent picture really encapsulating an entire event or emotion the same way as some of these others. Maybe we are too close to history to feel the history? My college professor for world history said 50 years is needed before something becomes history. I don't know if that is true, maybe it isn't.

Though, for me, the most iconic pic in recent memory is this one:

Spoiler:

[Sarcastic]

Foul?

Taco Bell.

[Eismann]

On phone, so not searching for it, but I always liked the Bob Beammon photo of him in mid air breaking/destroying the long jump record from way back in the day. It was in the Guinness Book of World Records from the 70's, and he beat the previous record by a foot or something outrageous like that.

1968 Mexico Olympics. Pretty cool story, too. "The man who saw lightning." "The perfect jump."

At the time, he beat the existing record by about 2 feet.

Record lasted for 22 years until broken in 1991 by Mike Powell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Beamon

[canaan]

it may not be the most iconic, but one of the most vivid from my younger days was:

[count2infinity]

Is that Weber's timeout when they didn't have one?

[Tico Rick]

Sorry if this was posted before, but this photo of Jim Ryun running the first sub-four minute mile is pretty awesome:

Spoiler:

[canaan]

Is that Weber's timeout when they didn't have one?

yessir. he traveled on the inbounds and it wasnt called. i thought the screwjob was in.

[Lt. Dish]

Spoiler:

Foul?

Taco Bell.

That's from when his jaw was dislocated, right?

No foul, iirc.

[tifosi77]

I didn't see this one. Definitely one of my favorites...

Spoiler:

IIRC Brian Williams took that photo.

[ulf]

Spoiler:

Foul?

Taco Bell.

That's from when his jaw was dislocated, right?

No foul, iirc.

You sure? I thought that was just him watching Ike try to cover Torrey Smith

[Orlando Penguin]

Since we don't have any true horse racing pics, I'll throw this one out there...

[JS©]

I didn't see this one. Definitely one of my favorites...

Spoiler:

IIRC Brian Williams took that photo.

I didn't think he took that pic but he was in that crowd.

[DelPen]

Oh, this is iconic, not ironic...

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I do remember Southwest's ad...

[superconan]

Not sure if this was posted.