In basketball, the United States' Olympic winning streak, which started in 1936, was ended by the Soviet team's victory in the gold medal game, which USA Basketball calls "the most controversial game in international basketball history" [1]. Doug Collins made two free throws with three seconds left to give the USA a 50-49 lead, despite the horn going off in the middle of his second attempt. The Soviets failed to score on the ensuing possession, but the clock was stopped at 0:01 after one official heard the earlier horn and the Soviets were frantically urging time-out. The clock was reset to three seconds and play began again. Again, the Soviets failed to score, time apparently expired, and the United States began celebrating, with ABC displaying the 50-49 margin as "final". However, after the vehement protests of FIBA secretary general R. William Jones of Great Britain, the referees determined to add three seconds back to the clock due to error in re-starting the timer, even though Jones had no authority to intervene in an Olympic game. The extra three seconds allowed the Soviet Union to have one more chance. The Soviets threw the ball downcourt, and Aleksander Belov made a lay-up as time expired for the final margin of 51-50. A U.S. protest, filed after the match, was denied by FIBA, which voted 3-2 against the protest along Cold War lines (Italy and Puerto Rico voted for; Hungary, Poland, and Cuba voted against). The Soviet athletes were awarded gold medals. The U.S. team voted unanimously to refuse the silver medal and to this day have not accepted them. They remain in a vault in Lausanne, Switzerland. USA team captain Kenny Davis even has written in his will that his wife and children can never accept the silver medal. The end of the USA-USSR gold medal game remains one of the most controversial events in Olympic history and has been the subject of numerous film and television specials, including HBO's documentary 0:03 from Gold.
