USA/Russia 1972 Olympics

[cincy]

I can't believe I have never seen a replay of the end of this game when the USA won the Gold medal game twice but the officials kept putting time back on the clock and gave Russia a 3rd chance.

FoxSports has all those shows with all the old time highlights but I can ever remember seeing a replay of this. Does anyone know where this replay can be viewed? How did the officials justify putting time back on the clock after the buzzer sounded?

[brock]

the ending is on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9COEbgjvOI&feature=related

[brock]

Here is how the ending played out
Gold medal game controversy

The 1972 Olympics marked the first time that the United States did not win the gold medal in Olympic basketball since the sport's introduction as an official medal event at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

It was perhaps the most controversial result in Olympic history. The United States basketball team had been unbeaten in 62 Olympic competitions. Then they met the Soviets in the 1972 gold medal game.

USA guard Doug Collins sank two foul shots late in the game, giving the Americans a 50-49 lead with three seconds remaining and what looked like the gold medal.

The Soviets inbounded the ball right away but the referee, Renato Righetto of Brazil, blew the whistle with one second on the clock.

Following a conference with the officials, it was determined that the Soviet head coach Vladimir Kondrashin had called a time out. The Soviets were given a second opportunity to inbound the ball with three seconds left. After a Soviet player heaved a desperation miss from half court, the U.S. began their celebration, which proved to be grossly premature. The Soviet coach, Kondrashin, protested that the clock had been reset incorrectly and demanded a third chance.

The Soviet team received the ball, and this time got the ball to their star player Aleksandr Belov, who sank the winning basket at the buzzer. The U.S. team, convinced they were robbed of the gold, flatly refused the silver and did not attend the victory ceremony, filing an official protest. On appeal, the five-man panel ruled the result fair despite testimony from the referee and the timekeeper pointing to the contrary; the 3-2 vote was split along Cold War lines.

[pavyracer]

Anyone remember what was the spread for that game or how much did the ML pay? I recall being in a crib babling around that time but I'm not quite sure because someone came and put a big boob in my mouth.

[cincy]

Thanks. I saw a replay but it did not include the first instance after Collins sank the free throws and then they gave USSR another chance because they claimed the coach called a timeout. It did show how the USSR was given the ball with 3 seconds and missed a long shot. It took 3 seconds so I don't understand how they could claim the clock was reset incorrectly. And the ball went out of bonuds off the USSR so I don't know why they gave the USSR the ball back even if they said the clock was reset incorrectly.
On the first attempt with 3 seconds the USA defender was in the face of the inbound passer and he just threw a short pass that lead to the long miss. On the next chance it seemed the official was telling the USA defender to back off the inbound passer and then the usa defender backed way off and this allowed the ussr to throw that long pass that was caught for the winning basket.

[smitch124]

The whole thing was a complete travesty, but you have to let things like this go, in 10 or 15 years I will be completely over it.