:03 seconds from gold

Authors:Steven H. Stern (Director), Liev Schreiber, George Roy, Home Box Office (Firm)

Summary:Victory turned into defeat forr the United States in the final seconds of the final 1972 Olympic Basketball game, against the Soviet team. The United States had never lost an Olympic basketball game, a perfect 62-0 with seven straight gold medals. But these had been an Olympics like no other -- an emotional, gut-wrenching affair following the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by Arab terrorists. This documentary lays out the confusing details of the last moments of that historic game and puts in perspective the events as seen from a distance three decades removed. The Americans alleged that Cold War intrigue was responsible, and the film illustrates just how intensely and thoroughly the game became politicized -- to the point that the sore-loser American team would not then (or ever) accept their silver medal. The film shows how official incompetence and language barriers, and likely not Cold War intrigue, intruded on the basketball court and victimized a team of young Americans, by giving the Russians three chances to play the final seconds. The film shows that this farce was not a plot, not a conspiracy against the Americans, but a monumental basketball screwup -- a sport known for officiating screw-ups