Basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936 and from that time on, the United States dominated the event. Coming into the 1972 Olympic games, the US had never lost a match. The US team made it to the gold medal match with an impressive Olympic record of 63-0. The final game was played against the Soviet Union and has gone down in history as one of the most controversial Olympic outcomes in history.

On this day, September 10th, in 1972, the Soviet Union beat the US in a controversial Olympic basketball game. In a close game 49-48 game, American Doug Collins was poised to shoot two free throws that would give the Americans a one point lead with three seconds remaining. As Collins began to shoot his second free throw, the Soviet Union attempted to call a time out that was not recognized by officials. Soviet Union coach Vladimir Kondrashin immediately argued with officials, which should have earned the coach a technical foul during live play. Olympic officials declined to give the foul and awarded the Soviet Union three controversial inbounds plays, in addition to resetting the game clock from 1 second to 3 seconds. The third resulted in a lob pass to Aleksandr Belov that resulted in an uncontested layup and a 51-50 victory for the Soviet Union.

The United States protested the official’s decision and the United States Olympic Committee launched a formal appeal. The findings of the appeal were than the Soviet victory was outside the rules of the game of basketball, but the final outcome was not overturned. To date, the 1972 US Olympic team has still refused to accept their silver medals.