High Water: When Dwight Stones of Glendale...

High Water: When Dwight Stones of Glendale arrived at the 1976 Games in Montreal, he held the world record in the high jump and was the overwhelming favorite. But nature intervened--it rained heavily the day of the finals--and Stones, who used a fast and sharp approach to the bar, couldn’t get his footing in the soaked high-jump area. He barely claimed the bronze. Stones was booed by the Canadian crowd for chastising organizers for failing to complete a retractable stadium roof.

Shot Down: In 1972 at Munich, marksman Vic Auer of North Hollywood was initially announced as the winner of the small-bore rifle in a prone position competition with a world record 598 points. But Auer had to settle for a silver after a recount gave North Korea’s Li Ho-jun 599 points and the gold medal. Auer was a television scriptwriter.

Fast Track: If anyone took the women’s track events at the 1988 Games in Seoul by storm, it was sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner. Nicknamed Flo-Jo, Griffith Joyner was living in Van Nuys when she catapulted to stardom, winning the 100 and 200 meters, the latter in a world-record time of 21.34 seconds. She won a third gold as a member of the U.S. 400 relay foursome and a silver in the 1,600 relay. Griffith Joyner ranks fifth in Cal State Northridge’s all-time list for the 100.

Head First: Although only 20 years old, Sue Gossick of Tarzana was already an Olympic veteran when she competed in women’s springboard diving in Mexico City in 1968. The Taft High grad, who also attended Valley College, won the gold but didn’t lead until the ninth round, when front-runner Micki King hit the board and broke her left arm. King finished fourth, the same place Gossick occupied four years earlier at Tokyo.