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| | Monday, December 27 | |||||
| 1960 Olympic decathlon Rafer Johnson beats C.K. Yang Rafer Johnson had risen from poverty to play basketball under John Wooden and become student body president at UCLA. He also excelled at the decathlon and became the first black man to carry the U.S. flag at the opening ceremonies. In a grueling competition against C.K. Yang of Taiwan -- and Johnson's UCLA teammate and training partner -- Johnson had a slim lead going into the final event, the 1,500. He needed to finish within 10 seconds of Yang to capture the gold medal. Both runners were wobbly down the homestretch as the crowd roared in excitement, but Johnson set a personal best by five seconds and finished 1.2 seconds behind Yang. 1972: U.S. robbed of gold Sept. 10, 1972: Soviet Union 51, United States 50 Doug Collins' two foul shots with three seconds left gave the U.S. its first lead at 50-49 in the gold medal game, but the Soviets get three chances to score the winning basket. On the first, an inbounds pass is deflected at midcourt and the crowd rushes the court. But the clock still shows one second left and the Soviets get another chance. When the second pass is short, the U.S. celebrates again. But a high-ranking international basketball official says the clock had not been reset and orders three seconds -- not one -- be put on the clock. Alesander Belov outmuscles two Americans to catch the full-court inbounds pass and scores a layup to give the Soviets the victory. A U.S. protest is denied and the team refuses to accept its silver medals, not appearing at the awards ceremony that night. 1973: Big Red in a big way June 9, 1973: Secretariat wins the Triple Crown Secretariat had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown and was such an overwhelming favorite to win the Belmont Stakes that only four other horses entered the race. Secretariat and Sham race to the lead, running the half-mile at a suicide pace of 46 1/5. With Ron Turcotte aboard, Big Red begins pulling away as he runs the mile in a stunning 1:34 1/5. He reaches the mile and a quarter in 1:59, faster than he ran in setting the Kentucky Derby record. Secretariat finishes the last quarter in an astonishing 25 seconds, winning by an amazing 31 lengths and breaking the old record by 2 3/5 seconds.
Feb. 22, 1980: United States 4, Soviet Union 3 The U.S. hockey team consisted of a bunch of college players. Nobody expected them to play with the powerful Soviets, who regularly beat NHL teams and had many of the best players in the world. In an exhibition game two weeks before the Olympics, the Soviets won 10-3. In a semifinal game in Lake Placid, N.Y., the Soviets led 3-2 entering the final period. But Mark Johnson tied the game with 11½ minutes left and two minutes later team captain Mike Eruzione scores for a 4-3 lead. With the crowd wildly cheering them on, the U.S. holds on for the stunning upset. Goalie Jim Craig finishes with 36 saves and in the locker room, the U.S. players sing "God Bless America." Two days later, they beat Finland 4-2 to capture the gold medal. 1980: Five-for-five Feb. 23, 1980: Eric Heiden completes his speed skating sweep Heiden had already won the 500-, 1,000-, 1,500- and 5,000-meter races at the Lake Placid Olympics. Could he improbably win a fifth gold medal? He oversleeps after celebrating the U.S. hockey victory over the Soviets the night before and has time to eat only three slices of bread before his race. He then shatters the world record by six seconds to win all five speed skating events. Imagine a sprinter winning everything from the 400 to 10,000 and you realize Heiden achieved the impossible. 1980 Wimbledon final Borg beat McEnroe, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6 Bjorn Borg, going for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon crown, plays John McEnroe in an epic final that includes a memorable 22-minute tiebreaker in the fifth set. Borg has five match points in the tiebreaker, but McEnroe fights back each and finally wins 18-16. With the fifth set tied 6-6, Borg breaks McEnroe's serve and then holds serve to win. 1991: Breaking Beamon's record Aug. 30, 1991: Powell breaks Beamon's long jump record Bob Beamon's leap of 29 feet, 2½ inches at the 1968 Olympics was considered nearly unbreakable -- nobody else had ever reached 29 feet. But in the World Championships at Tokyo, Carl Lewis and Mike Powell staged one of track and field's great duels. Lewis, who hadn't lost a long jump in 10 years, had the greatest series of jumps in history, soaring three times past 29 feet, including a wind-aided 29 feet, 2¾ inches. But Powell goes even longer. On his fifth of sixth leaps, Powell sets a record at 29 feet, 4½ inches. 1999: U.S. women win World Cup July 10, 1999: U.S. 0, China 0 (U.S. wins 5-4 on penalty kicks) Before 90,185 at the Rose Bowl, the women's World Cup final is an exciting back-and-forth affair, but neither team can put away the winning goal. In overtime, China appears to score off a corner kick but defender Kristine Lilly, standing on the post, knocks the ball away. In the shootout, it comes down to the final kick. Brandi Chastain nails it for the dramatic victory. |  ALSO SEE Greatest Games  | |||||
