The 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona signaled the end of the Cold War rivalry that marred international sport for the previous 40 years. (Yes, they had the Winter Olympics in Albertville the same year, but face it, other than one memorable hockey game in 1980, the two empires never clashed that much in the cold.)

The Soviet Union (minus three breakaway republics) was now a hodgepodge named "The Unified Team". America's one-time mortal enemy was reduced to competing under the Olympic flag with the Olympic anthem replacing the familiar Soviet fanfares. It just wasn't the same.

Yet somehow, as the last hurrah of the Soviet sport machine, the Unified Team topped the medal stand in Barcelona. Its once-dominant women's gymnastics team that won every gold since 1952 (sans the boycotted Games of 1984) triumphed as well. Russia, its successor, hasn't tasted the top of the podium since.

A large part of that victorious team was Tatiana Lysenko, a Ukrainian Jew. She also picked up two individual medals, a gold and a bronze. Soon after her success in Barcelona, Lysenko packed up her unitard and emigrated to the United States.

We guess the rivalry was over for her as well...