USSR Defeats USA in Basketball. After winning every Olympic basketball competition since its inception as an Olympic sport in 1936, the United States lost the basketball gold medal to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1972. The final moments of the game contained a series of unusual and still highly controversial decisions and reversals. . USSR Beats USA in Basketball Basketball was invented in the United States, and for 36 years, through seven Olympic Games, it appeared that no other country would ever challenge U.S. supremacy in the sport. Then came the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, and the bizarre sequence of events in the closing seconds of the basketball final. The last three seconds of the game seemed to take an hour to play. The game ended not once but twice. The team from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) got not one but three chances to win. When it was finally over, the Soviets celebrated at mid-court while the Americans stalked off in disgust and defeat. And international basketball was sullied by a controversy that still refuses to die. The Soviet Union brought a powerful team to Munich in 1972. Led by muscular forward Aleksander Belov, the Soviets had practiced and played together for more than a year and had toured the United States in 1971, winning eight of nine games against American amateur teams. The bruising yet precise style of the Soviets was perfectly suited to the international rules, and the Soviets' ball handling and shooting had improved significantly since 1968, when they won the bronze medal at the Olympics in Mexico City. The 1972 U.S. team, which played together only briefly in the weeks leading up to the Olympics, was less formidable than the dominant 1964 and 1968 squads. Only two of the players, Doug Collins and Bobby Jones, would go on to become stars in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The U.S. coach was 68-yearold Henry Iba, who had coached the gold-medal-winning teams of 1964 and 1968. Both the U.S. and Soviet teams rolled through the 1972 Olympic tournament with little difficulty, moving along to the championship game, which began at 15 minutes before midnight on Saturday, September 9. The Soviets controlled the first half, neutralizing the tall U.S. centers Tom McMillen and Tom Burleson and keeping the score low. The Americans managed only 21 points in the first half and trailed by 5 points at halftime. With ten minutes left in the game, the USSR led by 10 points. Four minutes later the Americans still trailed by 8. Then, in the last five minutes of the game, Iba installed a full-court press that harassed the Soviets into mistakes and turnovers. The Soviets did not manage a field goal in the final seven minutes of the contest--until those fateful three seconds. With six seconds left to play and the United States trailing 48-49, Collins grabbed a loose ball at mid-court and drove to the basket. Fouled and knocked to the floor, he missed the shot but received two free throws. The game began to unravel. Collins made his first free throw. As he released his second shot, a horn sounded inexplicably from the scorers' table. Nevertheless, Collins sank the free throw to give the United States a 50-49 lead. Three seconds remained on the clock. What happened next remains in dispute. The Soviets inbounded the ball, the pass was deflected at mid-court, and the crowd rushed onto the court believing the Americans had won. But a referee had blown his whistle; the Soviets may or may not have called an illegal time out. The court was cleared, the clock was reset to three seconds, and play was resumed. Again the inbound pass was deflected, the horn sounded, and the U.S. players began celebrating at mid-court. The Soviet coaches converged on the scorers' table, protesting that the clock had not been reset properly. To the astonishment of the crowd and millions of television viewers, Robert Jones, secretary general of the Fédération International de Basketball Association (FIBA), ruled that the clock would be reset and that, once again, the Soviet team would have three seconds for a last-ditch shot. Tom McMillen, the 7-ft (2.1 m) center for the U.S. team, guarded the inbounds passer, waving his arms to disrupt the throw-in. But the referee ordered McMillen to back off. When McMillen did so, the Soviet player drew back and threw the ball the length of the court. Under the USSR basket, Aleksander Belov was guarded by two smaller American players, Kevin Joyce and Robert Forbes. All three went up for the ball, but Belov muscled the U.S. players aside and caught the ball in front of the basket. Belov had time to catch the ball, come down, gather himself, and sink an easy layup. The horn sounded. This time there was no replay, no resetting of the clock. Final score: USSR 51, United States 50. The stunned U.S. players watched in disbelief as the Soviets celebrated. The enraged Iba rushed to the scorers' table, shouting at Jones and the other officials. The irate crowd whistled and jeered. The two referees, a Bulgarian and a Brazilian, signed the scoresheet and fled the arena. "I've never seen anything like this in all my years of basketball," Iba told reporters, according to the New York Times. Neither had anyone else. As Iba filed a formal protest with FIBA, the U.S. players declared that they would refuse to accept the silver medals for second place. The game had ended at 1:15 AM, but two hours later players and officials still lingered in the arena, awaiting a decision from the hastily assembled FIBA jury. "The one second [remaining] was played and the horn sounded, officially ending the game," the U.S. protest read in part. "The official score, 50 United States, 49 Soviet Union. According to FIBA rules, the game is officially over." Finally, at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday, September 10, the five-member jury returned its verdict. The protest was disallowed. The Soviet victory stood. The medals ceremony, originally scheduled for 5:30 PM in the Olympic Stadium, was postponed until late Sunday night. It was held in the same arena where the bizarre basketball final had taken place. The Soviet team and the Cubans, who finished third, received their medals at that time. The United States team did not attend. None of the American players ever accepted his silver medal. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
