The fights that mattered

The Olympic Games have witnessed some fascinating duels over the years. Here’s the first of a two-part series on the great clashes as A. Vinod picks his best.

1980: SEBASTIAN COE V STEVE OVETT

It seems dim and distant in memory now. Looking back well over 25 years, it is difficult to imagine the intensity of the excitement surrounding the men’s 800m final at the Moscow Olympics. However, for the uninitiated or those too young to remember, July 26, 1980 was the day when the most eagerly awaited foot race in the history of the Olympics was held.

Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett were the world’s finest middle-distance runners and the biggest sporting names on the athletics planet then. Their only confrontation on the track before the Moscow Games had been at the 1978 European Championships where their obsession with one another saw them finish second and third behind Olaf Beyer (East Germany). Nevertheless, the two British athletes had since ushered in a golden era in middle-distance running by trading world records in the 800m, 1500m and the mile with performances that lit up tracks worldwide.

So, Coe and Ovett facing each other once again was the subject of great passion for the track and field enthusiasts the world over. Naturally, the expectations ran very high.

The fact that the Moscow Olympics itself had been threatened by the United States-led boycott of the Games in protest against Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 only heightened the anxiety surrounding the showdown. The British Government had urged its athletes to join the boycott, but left it to them to decide whether to participate or not in the Games. Coe and Ovett decided to go to Moscow.

So, with the stage set, Coe as the world record holder in 800m was the obvious favourite to win the two-lap race. However, ironically, the expected classic encounter between the two runners never came about as Ovett won the rather slow and sluggish final in 1:45.40s, fending off challenges from the rest of the field with a swinging elbow after being boxed in almost throughout the race. In his autobiography, published in 1984, Ovett reflected on the race thus: “I kept thinking, where’s Coe, where’s Coe? This was supposed to be the clash of the century with two men neck and neck down the finishing straight. It was like being in a dream and when I reached the line, I thought, you’re the Olympic champion. What has all the fuss been about?”

Coe, having run wide until 600m and placed behind the pack, managed to win the silver medal with a last-gasp effort, but still was unable to control his anguish. “I chose this day of all days to run the worst race of my life, I cannot explain why. I’ve got to come back and climb the mountain again.”

Six days later, Coe fortunately did climb the mountain again as he unleashed a terrific kick in the homestretch to win the 1500m gold ahead of East German Jurgen Straub and world record holder Ovett. Ovett, incidentally, was undefeated over the distance since May 1977.

1972: BASKETBALL FINAL

Ever since the modern Olympics began in 1896 in Athens, the Games have never been short of controversies. The silver medals from the 1972 men’s basketball competition that still remain unclaimed in the International Olympic Committee vault in Lausanne, Switzerland, are a grim reminder of the huge controversy that shook the Olympic Movement to its roots in Munich.

The United States had been the winner of the basketball gold right from the day the sport was introduced in the Olympics at the 1936 Games in Berlin. And while making it to the final in Munich, the Americans, in search of an eighth straight Olympic title, also had an enviable record of being unbeaten in 62 consecutive matches. Their opponents in the final were the Soviets, who had trained hard in the years leading to the Games. The team was said to have played almost 400 games together while the US, given its habit of picking up a different team for each Olympics, had a very young team.

The final, on September 10, 1972, therefore was expected to be a keen affair. And so it proved to be as the inside-outside combination of Sergei Belov and Alexander Belov helped the USSR to a five-point lead at the break and stretched it to 10 points with 10 minutes remaining in the match. The US staged a tremendous fightback aided by Kevin Joyce. The Soviet lead was reduced to just a point with only 38 seconds remaining. Alexander Belov tried his best to protect his team’s lead and was intercepted by Doug Collins. But while trying to drive in, Collins was fouled hard by the rival defence, which resulted in two free-throws for the US. Three seconds remained for the buzzer and amid mounting tension Collins converted the two free-throws to give US the lead (50-49) for the first time in the match.

However, the American celebrations were short-circuited when the referee, Renato Righetto of Brazil, initially blew the whistle with one second on the clock and then gave a second opportunity to the Soviets to inbound following a conference which determined that the USSR coach, Vladimir Kondrashin, had called a time-out while Collins had intercepted to gain possession.

At the restart, a Soviet player heaved the ball from the mid-court and missed. And as the Americans once again began their celebrations, they were given another rude shock as the players were asked to get back on court for a third time. This time, it was following a Kondrashin protest that the clock had not been reset at three seconds correctly.

Already feeling cheated the Americans were left gaping in disbelief as the Soviets this time got the ball to Alexander Belov, who promptly scored the winning basket (51-50). The US team, convinced it was robbed of the gold, flatly refused to attend the victory ceremony. It filed an official protest. The five-man jury, later, ruled the result fair by a 3-2 verdict.

The shock defeat of the Americans was perhaps summed up best by Collins himself: “It was sort of like being on top of the Sears Tower in Chicago celebrating and then being thrown off and falling 100 floors on the ground.”

1960: SHAKLIN V ONO

One of the most appealing events of the Olympic Games, gymnastics, has seen quite a few intense rivalries over the years. But perhaps what got it going in the first instance was the showdown between Boris Shaklin and Takashi Ono at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

The competitions that year were held at the ruins of the ancient baths of Caracalla which only added to the drama of the contests between the two rivals: Shaklin (USSR) and Ono (Japan).

At the 1956 Melbourne Games, the two had crossed swords for the first time but under the shadow of the veteran, Viktor Chukarin, Shaklin’s training partner and fellow Ukrainian. Chukarin, who had won six medals in Helsinki four years earlier, was once again dominant in Melbourne as he picked up three gold medals apart from one silver and a bronze for a remarkable total of 11 Olympic medals.

This is not to say that Shaklin and Ono were left without any medals. The two did enjoy their share of the spotlight but not to the extent that they enjoyed in Rome four years later. The two had shared the honours at the 1958 World Championships in Moscow before they crossed swords in the Italian capital.

And what a tremendous contest it proved to be as Shaklin, although unusually huge-built for a gymnast, always looked finely-honed. He excelled in the apparatus that required power, control and a strong grip. Ono too had the same qualities despite being short in stature when compared to his great rival.

The two were tied in the vault with identical scores before Shaklin won the gold in parallel bars and then went on to exercise his supremacy over Ono in the rings, though by the narrowest of margins. The Soviet gymnast also had a tied gold in the pommel horse with Finland’s Emil Ekman before he took the all-around title, again at the expense of Ono. The difference between them was once again 0.05 points, the same as in the rings.

Shaklin’s tally was 115.95 points against Ono’s 115.9.

Ono did enjoy success in the high bars where Shaklin could only finish third, but what gave the Japanese gymnast ultimate joy was the role he played in helping his country win the team title for the first time in Olympic history. The Japanese supremacy in world and Olympic gymnastics was to remain intact for another 19 years.

But taking into account individual performances, Shaklin was the hero in Rome. His fierce determination to excel was evident from the manner in which he continued his routine in the high bars despite an injury to his right hand.

With his hands bleeding, he continued his routine unruffled to earn the respect of the spectators and the bronze medal from the judges. Not for nothing was he nicknamed the ‘Man of Iron’.

The legendary gymnast continued to be associated with his favourite sport and the Olympic Movement until he breathed his last on May 30, 2008.