1. Roy Jones Jr. vs. Park Si Hun, 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics
In 1984 the summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles and the United States boxing team dominated the sport cashing in on nine of the twelve gold medals. A few nations thought that they were deceived and that all the calls were going the Americans way. The most strident protest came from the Korean squad. Now let’s move to 4 years later and the Summer Olympic Games were held in Seoul, which is the capital and largest city in South Korea.
Park Si Hun was a good fighter, but was receiving a clean bye from the home town judges in the first four rounds of the competition. On the other side 19 year old Roy Jones Jr. was dominating the competition winning with ease. The two clashed in the finals and what following was the worst judging in the history of the Olympic Games. As expected Roy Jones Jr. overpowered Park, forcing his will on him, and smashing him all over the ring. Throughout the fight Park would be warned for slapping, holding, and was given a standing eight count. A
gathered total of punches launched to punches connected included a stunning 86 hits for Roy and 32 for Park. Roy Jones Jr. landed 54 more punches. Bob Kasule of Uganda, Alberto Duran of Uruguay, and Hiouad Larbi of Morocco came back with the verdict that Park Si Hun was the gold medallist.
In a post fight interview Park apologized to Jones stating “I am sorry, I lost the fight.” The boxing scandals in Seoul were so frequent that the sport was on the brink of being eliminated as an Olympic event and a new scoring system was developed. Roy Jones Jr. handled the choice in stride and became the guy that we know him as today. Trust me the video explains it all.
2. USA vs. Russia, 1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich Germany. Coming into the games the United States basketball team had won seven straight gold medals and accumulated a 63-0 Olympic record. Each team won their first eight games of the tournament which set the setting for a U.S. vs. Soviet final. It was a fiercely fought struggle, but many calls appeared to be going in the Soviet’s favor.
With three seconds remaining in the game U.S. guard Doug Collins sank two free-throws which gave his side a 50-49 advantage. As soon as the second free-throw went in the Soviet coaching staff attacked the scoring table alleging that they called a time out before the second free-throw. The regulations specify that this was not lawful and you may not request a time out between free-throws.
All of a sudden the Soviets inbound the ball amidst the turmoil on the floor and fail to score, but wait the referees discuss and decide to give the Soviets one more shot and enable them to set up an out of bounds play. However, when the ball was put into play by the officials the scores table was not ready and the clock had one second on it from the previous play.
The Soviets passed the ball in and threw it against the backboard as the U.S. flooded the court to celebrate an Olympic gold. But wait, on the final play the horn rang after just one second and not three, thus the officials allowed the Soviet squad another opportunity to win. Three times is a charm and the Soviets completed the long pass and scored with no time left.
Chaos followed and the Americans appealed the ruling to no avail. The United States has refused to accept the silver medal to this day. This game led to various rule modifications in international basketball.
3. St. Louis Cardinals vs. Kansas City Royals, 1985 World Series Game 6
This match up pitted the nine-time World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals vs the Kansas City Royals who were searching for their first championship. The Cardinals surged out to a three games to one lead in the series and Kansas City replied winning game 5 by the score 6-1.
Game 6 was played on October 26, 1985 and the action rapidly became a pitchers duel. The Cardinals Danny Cox and the Royals Charlie Leibrandt pitched 7 scoreless innings until in the 8th Brian Harper doubled home Terry Pendleton and St. Louis grabbed the 1-0 lead to the 9th. The Cardinals were 3 outs away from their ninth ring. Rookie Todd Worrell blasts “Wild Thing” and makes his way up the hill.
Jorge Orta comes in and hits a straightforward ground ball to first baseman Jack Clark who tosses the ball to Worrell who is covering. The throw easily beats Orta on his trip down the line, one out, but wait umpire Don Denkinger sees it a little differently and deems Orta safe. All replays from every angle clearly show that the throw beat the runner.
I can’t tell you how essential it is to get the first batter out in this circumstance. With the lead-off hitter aboard the Royals took advantage and pushed over two runs to win the game. The next night the Royals carried their momentum and blasted the Cardinals 11-0 wining their first and only World Series Title. How things might have been different if Denkinger had his glasses on that night.