10 things you might not know about American basketball’s shocking loss at the 1972 Olympics

On September 10, 1972, five days after the infamous Munich massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists, the Soviet Union defeated the United States in the gold medal basketball match at the Olympic Games in summer from Munich, West Germany. The 51-50 loss was the first loss in 64 games in Olympic competition for the American men, whose team consisted of college players.

READ MORE: Munich Massacre

The Soviets won the gold medal contest after confusion over timeouts and the game clock led to the last three seconds being replayed twice. From the United States missing its best player to the CIA’s interest in the outcome, here’s what you might not know about the historic upheaval:

1. Some pressures to delay “games and entertainment”

The Palestinian was part of a group that took 12 Israeli athletes hostage during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Russell Mcphedran / The Sydney Morning Herald / Fairfax Media / Getty Images

In an editorial after the Munich massacre, The New York Times called for the postponement of Olympic competition, writing: “Munich threatens to become a symbol of insensitivity totally contrary to the Olympic ideal. For millions of people around the world, this indecent rush to be part of the International Olympic Committee to return to fun and games is unacceptable. “

READ MORE: When world events disrupted the Olympics

But competition resumed after only a 34-hour suspension.

Years later, US Captain Kenny Davis told the Louisville Courier Journal: “If they’d asked us, ‘Would you go home now and forget about this?’ I think everyone on our team would have said, “Yeah, let’s go. But come to think of it, I think they did the right thing.

2. How are the last seconds going?

With three seconds remaining, Doug Collins had two free throws to give the United States a 50-49 lead. As the Soviets recovered the ball, assistant coach Sergei Bashkin rushed to the scorers table, insisting his team had requested a time-out. The Soviets were allowed in again, although no official noticed that the game clock had not been reset to three seconds. The Soviets’ pass was lost and the Americans celebrated their apparent victory. But due to the clock error, officials ordered a new restart. This time the pass managed to reach Alexander Belov as two Americans fell and he made the winning layup. (Belov died in 1978.)

An appeal jury for FIBA, the sport’s governing body, dismissed the Americans’ appeal for defeat. In a statement that some have interpreted as anti-American bias, Britain’s R. William Jones, FIBA ​​General Secretary, told the media: “Americans have to learn to lose, even if they think they have. raison.

3. USA miss their best player, Bill Walton

Bill Walton, the best college basketball player in the United States in 1972, did not compete in the Olympics that year.

Sports News / Getty Images

UCLA’s Bill Walton, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, was clearly America’s top college player, leading the Bruins to a 30-0 record and to the NCAA title in 1972. But Walton had several reasons for not wanting to represent the United States at the Games. On the one hand, Walton strongly opposed the ongoing Vietnam War – he was arrested during an anti-war demonstration in May 1972.

READ MORE: Protests against the Vietnam War

Additionally, Walton had a bad experience at the 1970 world championships, telling ESPN in 2004, “For the first time in my life I was exposed to negative coaching and player reprimand, foul language and threats from people who did not. t perform. Plus, Walton didn’t think he should have to try for the team.

“When (the Soviets) saw who was or was not on the American team,” Russian sports historian Robert Edelman told ESPN, “that’s when they started having the feel like they really would have a chance. “

4. The much more experienced Soviet Union

The USSR team, led by Sergei Belov, 28, was a group of experienced players from Soviet club teams, aged 20 to 33, while the US team was made up of college players, all under the age of 23. In 1992, Sergei Belov became the first international player inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

In 2004, Johnny Bach, an assistant for the 1972 United States team, told ESPN: “Their team, it was reported, has played almost 400 games together. 400 games. We had played 12 matches. exhibition and testing. “

5. The CIA examines the results

In a declassified memo, the CIA looked into the controversy surrounding the end of the game and suggested that the FIBA ​​Appeal Jury’s decision in favor of the USSR was a Soviet plot. “Rumor has it that the vote was three (Communists) against two (Westerners),” the note read.

Sounding like something written by complaining fans, the CIA report included a mention of wrongful misconduct against the Soviets: [winning] basket.”

6. Upset inspires hit film in Russia

Like the hit American film Miracle on Ice, about the resounding victory of the United States over the Soviets in hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics, the victory of the USSR in Munich was played out on the big screen.

The 2017 Russian film Going Vertical told the story of the 1972 squad, culminating in the dramatic gold medal match finale, including an assist from Ivan Edeshko. In Russia, it is known as “the golden pass”.

The film was very popular, becoming the highest grossing Russian film of the post-Soviet era. He also won six “Golden Eagle” awards, the Russian version of the Golden Globe.

7. America lacks great men

Late in the match, Team USA lost their starting cross and leading scorer Dwight Jones when Russian reserve Mishako Korkia tangled with him on the pitch, and both were ejected. The Americans claimed it was a deliberate attempt to get Jones expelled; the Soviet coach blamed Korkia’s “hot Asian character” for the fight.

In the jump ball that followed, 6-foot-9 American Jim Brewer was eliminated from the game with a serious foul. Tom Burleson, the 7-foot-2 center for the Americans, was in good health but had been benched for the gold medal game for letting his fiancee visit him at the Olympic Village.

In the last game of the game, America’s tallest player was 6-foot-11 forward Tom McMillen, a future US Congressman, who backed Alexander Belov back before the pass. Due to the language barrier, McMillen misunderstood the Bulgarian referee’s hand signal, believing he would be called for a technical foul if he encumbered Alexander Belov, creating a path for the “pass in. gold”.

8. Even the referees protest against the result

After the match, referee Renato Righeppo of Brazil refused to sign the box score certifying the victory of the Soviets. A second official, the Bulgarian Artenik Arababjan, signed it by declaring: “I am only a referee. It is not for me to protest.

9. The US team still refuses to accept silver medals.

The United States voted unanimously to refuse the silver medals – Davis and fellow American player Tom Henderson even provided in their wills that their children cannot accept the medals either. The 1972 US men’s basketball team was the only Olympic team, in all sports, to withhold its medals.

After the gold medal game, Davis told the media, “If we had lost honorably, we would have held that second place on the platform and received our silver medals honorably.”

10. No Olympic meeting again before 1988

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, the first Olympic reunion of countries since 1972, the Soviets defeated the United States, 82-76. The match, played without controversy, was dominated by Soviet center Arvydas Sabonis, a Lithuanian and one of the greatest players of all time.

READ MORE: The collapse of the Soviet Union

“I’m very disappointed and the kids are disappointed, but there will be life after,” US coach John Thompson told the Washington Post.

A Soviet Union-US clash would never happen again. At the next Summer Games, in 1992 in Barcelona, ​​Spain, the Soviet Union was dissolved and the United States turned to the stars of the NBA to compete in the Olympics. In Spain, the American “Dream Team”, led by Michael Jordan, easily won the gold medal.

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