Three Seconds to Win ~ When Sport Was Honest (USSR-USA Gold Basketball, 1972 Olympics)

Warning! You may be shocked and may not believe your eyes at what you’ll see below. It may even turn your entire perception upside down, but keep reading!

Recently we’ve discussed what the sport has turned into in the past 20 or so years: REPORT: Dirty Geopolitics of Olympics and Globalism – Will Russia Say NO and Start Alternative Games? In that report, of December 18, 2017, I said ‘Big sport, simply put, equals the following: big money, big business and big showbiz‘. There is no fairness and no hope of justice in sport at this time in our common reality. Pretty depressing, right?

For someone who grew up with the old ideals of sport it’s hard to watch the mockery and a farce it has become. But I really wanted to have something positive and hopeful with which to #Jumpstart2018, and I found this gem.

True, there may be different vantage points and different interpretations of various events, and there has always been politics and geopolitics present in any Big sport.

You hear me often talk about multidimensional truths and the fact that we are transitioning into 4D. This means that everything that was a norm in 3D is changing. I would hope though, that things like honesty, honor and common decency will remain. It saddens me greatly that in our day and age these solid old notions have almost been rendered obsolete and useless. But let me assure you, they will always remain crucially important in any dimension and in any reality.

You may not believe it, but there was a time when the Olympic sport was honest, at least it made an effort to be so. And it was at the height of the Cold War. 

1972, Munich Summer Olympics. American basketball is the best in the world. In the previous 36 years the US basketball team never lost, and at that moment in history US has won 63 straight games in Olympic competitions. And no wonder. After all, basketball is an original American sport, invented by a US college professor 150 years ago, who tied two fruit baskets in a college court and offered a new sporting competition to his students.

Unexpectedly, the young Soviet basketball team makes it to the Munich Olympic finals, after beating top contenders such as Cuba, to play against the US team. Throughout the game, both USSR and US go neck to neck, at an early point the USSR even being well ahead. After that the USA gains most points back, and again both go head to head. The match is nearly over and the USA is one point ahead, after 2 penalty throws give it 2 extra points. The score is USA 50 — USSR 49. The Soviet coach takes timeout 3 seconds before the end of game.

And then, something crazy begins to happen…

This video was the original ABC broadcast of that golden game, shown live on US TV. The video is shortened to show only the scoring points of the game. You’ll hear the original American commentator. On top of it you’ll hear the Russian commentator, who’s commentating well after the game is over, already knowing the final result.

Don’t blink or you’ll miss it! Watch my timestamps on this tape. Just a minute before the end of game the score is USA 48 — USSR 49 (15:29). Pivotal point! American player Doug Collins attacks but collides with Russian (15:35), who is defending his basket. US team is awarded 2 penalty shots and Collins scores twice. Now the score is USA 50 — USSR 49. The first mistake is made when the Soviet coach Kondrashin asks for timeout but it isn’t registered right away. The mistake is fixed and timeout is counted (15:50 – 16:28).

During timeout, one USSR player is replaced by another, Ivan Yadeshko, who will make the final pass. Now watch very closely! No timestamps here as it’s all self-evident! From off court on the Russian side Yadeshko makes a long pass to Alexander Belov, positioned on the opposite side of the court by the US basket, and at that moment the final siren sounds, signaling the end of game. The entire US team, plus all US coaches and US Olympic committee members (in white jackets) flood the court, celebrating victory. The US fans go crazy in the arena… The Russian commentator is heard saying that he is sorry for the US athletes and fans as they are about to find out that it’s not over… He will also make it a point to say that the American team is great and equally deserving of victory.

At that moment the man whose name is Dr. William Jones signals from the judging/ time-keeping table that the time has been miscalculated and there are still 3 seconds left.

Who was Dr. William Jones? He was the man who wrote the rules of that basketball game. By rules, after timeout the time starts being counted from the moment the ball touches the first player in the court. Erroneously, the time count began from the moment Yadeshko made his long pass from outside the court. Dr. Jones happened to be next to the time-keeping judge’s table and noticed the mistake.

Now don’t blink! 3 seconds to the end of the game are reset, and the Soviet team again gets to make that same long pass (17:50 – 18:05). Yadeshko makes his winning pass, Russian star Alexander Belov catches the ball and although two US players hang onto him trying to prevent it, scores. USSR wins 51 to 50. I’ve watched this spectacular moment several times (here is the exact time stamp one more time 17:55 – 18:03).

Both Ivan Yadeshko and Alexander Belov played a very inspired game. They would come home to become the legends of Russian sport. Another legend, Sergey Belov, Alexander’s brother, scored 20 points out of 51 in that game.

Many remarkable things could be said about this unusual game. One of the things that stood out for me were the actions of Dr. William Jones, who passed away prematurely in 1981. Being an American, he chose scrupulous honesty over profit or US team’s gain. How unusual his actions sound from today’s perspective!

Another behind-the-scenes moment that struck me: the time-keeper of that game, the one who made those two infamous mistakes, was none other than Sepp Blatter, who would eventually become a long-time FIFA president, ousted in 2015 due to his refusal to succumb to globalists’ pressure to take the 2018 World Cup away from Russia. (Read my original big report about FIFA Scandal, World Cup and Joseph Blatter.)

And another striking moment. That 1972 Olympic gold game was never shown live in the USSR because the government/ Soviet sports bureaucrats expected to lose to the US. They made a decision not to show the game to avoid potential embarrassment. The Soviet team was expected to lose big time, it was expected to be simply slaughtered. The people learned about what really happened later, from a recording borrowed (purchased?) from American broadcaster ABC! Hmm… talk about embarrassment… If you want to know my opinion, it was attitudes like this that contributed to the USSR demise.

However, the game was broadcast live on the USSR radio. It was very telling in that it conveyed the general conviction that the Americans could not be beaten. In it, the radio commentator first says in a very resigned to the fact voice that the game’s almost over, three seconds to go… and then, suddenly shouts in disbelief, ‘We won, we won!’

Just like many stories from Soviet days, this one was forgotten and was only exposed to general public recently. What popularized it was the new Russian movie called Движение вверх (Moving Up), from Nikita Mikhalkov studio. The film came out just a month ago and has already proved mega-popular, with rave reviews. Based on true event of the 1972 Olympics and real lives of Soviet athletes, it is still a fictional work. But it immediately sparked interest in the real documentary events of that day, the true events I described for you above. 

We live in a different era. There is no USSR any more. The IOC, WADA, FIFA and other international sports bureaucracies have become a tool of the globalist agenda. The witch hunt against Russian sport is continuing, and it’s still feasible for it to reach yet another new crushing low during the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the 2018 World Cup held in Russia, just as Russia goes into the presidential elections on March 18, 2018.

The creators of the film say that it was released to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the invention of basketball in the USA.

Was it released by accident right around the time IOC made its dishonest and politically motivated decision to ban Russian team from S. Korean Games? Of course not. It is a gentle reminder of the fact that it’s possible to take the high road, demonstrating how it was done in the past. It is also a reminder to Russian athletes and their fans that miracles are possible, even when the whole country doesn’t believe in you.

Is it also a reminder to all of us of something forgotten? Clean old ideals and high standards, new hope and new truth in the New Year 2018? We do need these inspiring reminders, and I also try to write about them as often as I can. Will they work? I think so, and I hope so — but time will tell.

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Don’t forget to read my big REPORT: Dirty Geopolitics of Olympics and Globalism – Will Russia Say NO and Start Alternative Games? (Links to other articles on the topic are inside the report.)

Interesting trivia ~

It took the film crew a month to shoot the whole USSR-USA game from 6 different cameras. The game and all of the moves were ‘choreographed’  by Alexander Belov, the son of the original Soviet/Russian basketball star Sergey Belov.

The Soviet team of that historic game was strikingly multi-national. The Belov brothers were Russian, of course. Ivan Yadeshko — Ukrainian, the guy you’ve seen in the video above defending the basket during Doug Collins’ attack was Georgian, There was also an Uzbek and a Lithuanian on the team. Yet another reminder of how well they all used to live and work together…

Watch a small snippet from the new film Движение вверх (Moving Up), plus interview with one of the stars, Kirill Zaitsev, who played Sergey Belov. The film is based on Sergey Belov’s book, by the same name.

We can now watch a ‘replay’ of that legendary game — in HD. The film Движение вверх (Moving Up) began showing in Russian theaters on December 28, 2017.