Munich/1972 Men's Basketball
The U.S. team came to the final having won every game in Olympic play for the past 36 years. But the Soviet Union's team surprised the Americans with an aggressive offense. With just six seconds left, the U.S.S.R. was clinging to a one-point lead when American Doug Collins was deliberately fouled. Collins sank both his free throws, giving the U.S. its first lead, 50-49, with just three seconds left. The Soviets failed to score, time ran out, and the Americans erupted in celebration. But Soviet coach Vladimir Kondrashkin claimed he had called a time-out that was ignored, and Britain's R. William Jones, the secretary-general of the International Amateur Basketball Federation, ordered the clock set back by three seconds. When play resumed, Soviet star Sasha Belov pushed past two U.S. defenders to sink the winning basket.
Helsinki/1952 Men's 100-m
Lindy Remigino never imagined he would win a gold medal; in fact, he barely made it to the Helsinki Games at all. A scrawny 21-year-old from Hartford, Connecticut, Remigino finished fifth that year in the American collegiate championships, and as a result barely managed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic tryouts. On the day of the 100-m race, Remigino's prospects didn't look much better. He faced tough competition from favorites Mac Bailey of Trinidad and the Jamaican Herb McKenley. And the weather was awful. Yet despite pouring rain, 85,000 people crammed into Helsinki's Olympic Stadium for the heat. At first, Remigino lagged behind, but midway through the race he surged ahead, with McKenley, Bailey and another American, Dean Smith, trailing behind. Against all the odds, Remigino held the lead — until he approached the finish line, when he leaned for the tape nearly 20 m too soon. This allowed the others, with McKenley leading the pack, to catch up. As the runners crossed the wire, Remigino was sure he saw McKenley whiz past. "I thought Herb won," he later recalled. "I was mad at myself. I was heartsick. I figured I'd blown it." But the race was so tight that the judges were unable to call it, even after scrutinizing the photo finish images. Finally they declared that Remigino's right shoulder crossed the finish line barely 2.5 cm ahead of McKenley's chest. Remigino turned to McKenley in disbelief and said, "Gosh, Herb, it looks as though I won the darn thing." It was the the closest men's 100-m finish in Olympic history.
Rome/1960 Men's 100-m Freestyle
It was one of the most controversial upsets in swimming history, and it helped launch a new era of Olympic timekeeping. The men's freestyle contest in Rome was thrown wide open when two favorites, American Jeff Farrell and the defending gold medalist, Australia's Jon Henricks, were sidelined by illness. In their absence, Australian John Devitt and American Lance Larson dominated the race and finished in a near dead heat. Convinced he had lost, Devitt congratulated Larson as he left the pool. But the judges were split down the middle: three gave the race to Larson; three gave it to Devitt. To resolve the impasse, they consulted the electronic timers, which gave the edge to Larson by 0.1 sec. The manually operated machine that recorded when each swimmer touched the side of the pool also showed Larson as the winner. But chief judge Hans Runströmer saw it differently. He awarded Devitt the gold medal — even though chief judges are not empowered to resolve disputed finishes. It was the last time that a judge's eyeball decision was allowed to determine the outcome of a race. In part to avoid a repetition of the Rome controversy, electronic timers became the official timekeeping devices at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.
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The Year of The Nuke A rundown of the world's nuclear powerhouses, and what to expect in the coming months
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