In high school, I never missed a cover of Sports Illustrated, including this one.
Great athletes performing at their peak have always captured my attention – especially when they involve feats of physical strength. I marveled watching Vasily Alexeev at the 1976 Olympic Games here in Montreal, and still marvel when I look at those images today.
Alexeev died earlier this week from heart problems at the age of 69. His death has inspired me to post a vignette I produced for CBC TV in 2006. It was part of series I created called “30 years later”, featuring current-day recollections of the same great moments from those Games. In this short, you’ll hear the legendary Brian Williams’ voice from the original broadcast, blended with recollections from long-time commentator Aldo Roy. The late and great Don Wittman does the narration for this vignette. The video quality here isn’t perfect, but you get the idea!
