Happy birthday, Colorado — and Colorado sports.

Leading into the state’s 150th birthday Aug. 1, The Denver Gazette has partnered with the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame to publicize the definitive list of Colorado’s top 150 sports moments.

Colorado Sports Hall of Fame historian Dave Plati and a committee of 10 compiled and will release the list every week until the No. 1 moment on July 31. Plati and Broncos icon Jim Saccomano will unveil the list weekly on a Colorado Sports Hall of Fame podcast at coloradosports.org/podcast/.

No. 111

July 29, 1984

Boulder’s Connie Carpenter-Phinney became the first American woman to win a gold medal in Olympic road cycling, winning the 79-kilometer race at the Los Angeles Summer games. Neck-and-neck with fellow American Rebecca Twigg, the two accelerated into a frantic sprint over the final 50 meters, with Carpenter winning by all of 2 inches to claim the gold. It would be 40 years until the next American woman would win the gold. Her husband, Davis Phinney, won a bronze medal in cycling in the same L.A. games.

—Dave Plati, Colorado Sports Hall of Fame historian