03 Apr History’s Greatest Sports Dynasty?

“My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment . . .

The first was to walk without braces.”

— Wilma Rudolph, the first American woman to win three Olympic gold medals in track and field

As the glow of the Winter Olympics fades—melting like snow into headlines about war, inflation, and uncertainty—it’s worth pausing for a moment to remember the powerful magic that sports can deliver.

Moments like Alysa Liu smiling and skating to gold, performing in what athletes simply call “the State”—that rare moment when preparation, belief, and opportunity collide to produce the performance of a lifetime and bring tears to our eyes.

But look ahead. The 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles are now roughly 850 days away.

Get ready. And while we’re thinking about Olympic greatness, consider this question: what is history’s greatest sports dynasty?

Bar fights have raged for decades.

• Was it the legendary Boston Celtics teams of the 1950s and ’60s?
• The incomparable run of the New York Yankees?
• John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins men’s basketball and their ten NCAA titles?
• Or the modern dominance of the New England Patriots and their six Super Bowl victories?

All worthy contenders. But as a former four-time All-American decathlete—admittedly biased—I would argue that USA men’s and women’s Track & Field team deserves a seat at this bar fight.

Admittedly, this is an unfair bar fight. The dominance of American track and field stretches across two centuries and dozens of disciplines. It spans eras: From grainy black-and-white photos of early Olympic triumphs, through the political intensity of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, to the 2024 Olympic victories of athletes like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Noah Lyles, Quincy Hall, Cole Hocker, Grant Holloway, and Rai Benjamin.

In Paris alone, the United States captured 34 medals, including 14 gold—the most of any nation since 1984. And the momentum continues. At the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships, American athletes set a record for the most gold medals ever at 16.

Over the past three decades, we’ve had the honor of working closely with Nike and USA Track & Field—alongside many of the sport’s extraordinary athletes, coaches, and leaders.

And dynasties like this don’t happen by accident. They require strategy. As Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

Beginning in the early 1990s, that philosophy guided a long-term strategic effort—working with Nike to develop a forward-looking plan known as “Atlanta and Beyond.” The goal was simple but ambitious: Sustain and extend American dominance in track and field while dramatically increasing the sport’s global value and visibility.

Today, that strategy is paying off. And with the 2028 Summer Olympics coming to Los Angeles—the first Summer Games on American soil in more than four decades—the stage is set once again.

So, here’s wishing our friends at Nike and USA Track & Field continued success as they build toward 2028. And perhaps continue to strengthen what may well be the most enduring dynasty in the history of sports.

David Morey is founder, Chairman, and CEO of DMG Global, a best-selling author of four books, and a former four-time All-American decathlete and member of several U.S. national teams.