• The Olympic Games offers athletes the chance to compete for glory while the whole world watches.
• Some of the fiercest rivals in sports history have had the chance to square off at the Olympics.
• Before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games starts, let's look back on some famous Olympic showdowns.
The Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games haven't even kicked off yet, and the looming showdown between Russian figure skaters Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova is shaping up to be a must-watch duel.
Some feuds, like the one between American figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, led to violence and drama. Other rivalries, like the spat between American swimmer Gary Hall Jr. and his Australian counterparts, have ended on a more magnanimous note.
But competition is at the heart of every Olympic Games.
Here's a look at some of the greatest Olympics rivalries in history:
SEE ALSO: These 15 successful Olympians also served in the US armed forces
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Nancy Kerrigan vs. Tonya Harding
The Nancy vs. Tonya feud ultimately proved to be one of the most dramatic, talked-about scandals to ever hit the sports world. More than two decades later, we have a buzzy, star-studded movie about it.
Fitness Magazine recaps the whole sordid affair. Kerrigan and Harding skated against one another for years. The rivalry turned violent in 1994, when Harding was attacked with a metal baton. The fact that the assault had been planned by Harding's ex-husband and her bodyguard was quickly uncovered.
The attack prompted intense media interest. Kerrigan recovered in time for the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, and the world tuned in to watch her compete against Harding.
Ultimately, Kerrigan prevailed over her rival in Lillehammer, taking home the silver medal. Harding didn't make the podium, and was ultimately banned from the sport.
Shirley Babashoff vs. the 1976 East German swimming team
At the age of 19, American swimmer Shirley Babashoff went up against a suspiciously dominant East German team at the 1976 Montreal Games.
As it turns out, the East German team were taking performance enhancing drugs. Because of this, Babashoff missed out on several gold medals, but ultimately pulled off a major upset by helping the Americans win gold over the East Germans in the 400-meter freestyle relay.
She also publicly made statements alleging the East Germans were doping. Her candidness earned her the ire of the media, who labeled "Surley Shirley" a poor sport, Swimming World Magazine reported.
The East German swimmers later admitted to cheating, but the IOC has refused to redistribute the medals they won, according to Newsday.
Michael Phelps vs. Milorad Cavic
American swimmer Michael Phelps' short-lived feud with South African swimmer Chad le Clos certainly inspired some hilarious memes.
But his most dramatic pool-side rivalry came about with Serbia's Milorad Cavic.
The Phelps-Cavic squabble played out quite a bit in the press. The duel in the pool came to a head when Phelps famously beat Cavic by a fraction of a second at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The judges actually had to slow down the tape of the match to review each "10-thousandth of a second," ESPN reported.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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