If you list your favorite occurrences and athletes in Olympic Games history, I’d probably agree with all of them – countless.

Despite all the crap, corruption and criminality since the carnival began in 776 B.C., there has been indescribable nobility, dignity and excellence to far overshadow the trash and garbage, most of it human.

Yet when I get to reminiscing, my thoughts quickly turn to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Genius-organizer Peter Ueberroth not only staged one of the greatest live shows, of any kind; he also turned a healthy profit – the last, I think, for the Games.

Jumping into my forefront of thrills from that ’84 experience is the image of a frail little marathon pixie wearing a too-big white baseball cap and a floppy, silver, ill-fitting USA uniform that looked as if she’d been so rushed she snatched the suit off the bargain rack at Good Will. The only item that really fit were her shoes, which had been supplied by up-and-coming Nike in one of the best testimonials it ever arranged.

We’re talking long-racer Joan Benoit, then 27, who looked like an underfed newspaper carrier Grandma would call in for milk and cookies.

All Joanie, now 51-year-old Joan Samuelson and the mother of Abby and Anders, did was win the Olympic marathon in a hot, smoggy 2:24.52, a full 400 meters ahead of the gal who was supposed to whip her. Benoit had undergone arthroscopic surgery on a knee just 17 days before her Olympic triumph. She won the Sullivan Trophy for her feat, then a long string of new injuries prevented her from setting more records and returning for 1988 and 1992.

One of the great pioneers in women’s sports, Joan and her family in Freeport, Maine, continue to be active in physical fitness for the citizenry.

Even experts couldn’t believe it when Joanie entered the Los Angeles Coliseum so all alone after her long trek. She wasn’t even convinced it was happening: “When I came into the stadium and saw all the colors and everything, I told myself, ‘Listen, just look straight ahead, because if you don’t you’re probably going to faint.'”

Benoit had won the Boston Marathon in 1979 and 1983. But going against her at Los Angeles was Norway’s fabled Grete Waitz, who had beaten Joanie in 10 of their 11 most recent races.

Benoit grabbed the lead in ’84 only three miles into the 26.25-mile grind and though Norway’s stunned Waitz tried to close at the end, she was a full quarter mile in arrears. I remember being with a group of people who were astounded that this gal whom they’d never heard of could make Americans so deeply proud and joyous.

Joan Benoit has more than justified the respect and adoration her running feats produced. She helped grease the skids for countless females to enter, develop and excel in all manner of athletic events. She’ll never top the delight she gave her fellow citizens that day in Los Angeles but she’s remained quite appreciative of all that’s made her life so rewarding.

That’s one of my most favorite Summer Olympic moments. Winter-wise, there’ll always be one at the top of my list: The American hockey team’s defeats of the Soviet Union and Finland to win the 1980 gold medal. Sorry if you missed that, too.