JOURNAL - OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL TUESDAY - 30 JANUARY 1973

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75B00380R000300010089-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 89
• Publication Date: January 30, 1973
• Content Type: NOTES

Approved For Release 20
Journal - Office of Legislative Counsel
Tuesday - 30 January 1973
Page 2 ,
25X1
6. Picked up from the staff of the Senate
Subcommittee on National Security and International Operations (now under
the jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Permanent Investigations) multiple
copies of James Schlesinger's paper on "Uses and Abuses of Analysis" as
printed by the Subcommittee. Copies of this document are being distributed
to interested offices. ,
7. Picked up from Jack Norpel, Sa!?ate Internal
Security Subcommittee sta f, a package for 1 :1 OS. 25X1
8. As a followup to the briefing given
Representative Frank Horton (R. , N. Y.) prior to his overseas survey trip
on narcotics, I talked to David Lovenheim, Horton's Administrative Assistant,
who told me he will try to schedule a meeting for Friday, 2 February, with
sentative
r
R
h
f
.
e
ep
e
t
Horton for NARCOG, and myself to debrie
coil,
kf IUE f, I
TIAL
&Q0380R000300010089-5
Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B0038OR000300010089-5
 25X1 Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B0038OR000300010089-5
Next 2 Page(s) In Document Exempt
Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B0038OR000300010089-5
 Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B00380R000300010089-5
The Situation Leading Up to the End
of the US-USSR Basketball Game
The Olympic basketball championship game between the US and
USSR was played on 10 September 1972. The USSR led the game until the
last five minutes when the US team began a drive which placed the score
in the last few seconds at 49-48, in favor of the Soviets. Doug Collins
got the ball away from the Soviets and began a drive for the Soviet basket
when he was knocked to the floor by Zurab Sakandelidze.
The clock was stopped at three seconds to allow for the two free
shots by Collins. He made the first basket and the ball was handed back to
him. (At this point the Soviets claimed they called for a time out. Accord-.
ing to international rules, however, a time out cannot be called while the
ball is in play.) Collins made his second point placing the score at 50-49
in the favor of the US. The ball was handed to the Soviets who immediately
put it into play. They were halfway down the court when the buzzer sounded
leaving one second on the clock.
The referee, Brazilian Renato Righetto, had stopped the game
because people were on the floor. The people turned out to be memioers of
the Soviet team including Vladimir Kondrashin, the Soviet coach. Kondrashin
complained to the referee that he had been trying to get his attention in
order to call for a time out. Righetto and the Bulgarian Umpire, Artenik
Arbadjian, went over to the scorers table to insure that the time remaining
was only one second.
According to Hans Tenschert, West German scorekeeper, it was at
this point that Robert William Jones, secretary-general of the International
Amateur Basketball Federation (FIBA), came out of the stands and indicated
to Righetto, by signaling with three fingers, that there should still be three
seconds on the clock. (Jones later denied he did any such thing, but several
people witnessed it.) Edmondt Bigot, the French FIBA technical delegate
for the game whose job it was to rule on questions of this sort, made no
comment and Righetto accepted Jones' signal. (International rules do not
provide for turning back the time and Jones has no authority to make any
ruling in this game. )
Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B00380R000300010089-5
 Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B0038OR000300010089-5
The game was begun again from mid-court with the clocks showing
that there were between 20 and 30 seconds left to play. The horn designat-
ting the end of the game sounded after one second of play. Not only was
the time wrong but the ball should have been put into play from the American
end of the court and not the middle. The Americans were jubiliant, thinking
they had won, but it shortly changed to confusion when they learned of the
errors.
Again the ball was given to Zurab Sakandelidze with the clock set
showing three seconds left in the game. He made a full length court pass
to Aleksandr Belov who was standing between two Americans, Kevin Joyce
and Jim Forbes. Belov fumbled the ball momentarily, regained control,
and drove to make two points, knocking down the two Americans in the
process. (American commentators remarked that the Soviets committed
two errors in this play. First, Sakadnelidze stepped on the boundary line
when he passed the ball to Belov and secondly, Belov was guilty of fouling
the two Americans on his drive for the basket. )
The horn sounded and US coach, Hank Iba, protested the added time
at the scorer's bench. Righetto further added to the commotion by refusing
to sign the scorecard claiming the Americans had won the game. The umpire,
Arbadjian, however, stated, "I'm only a referee. It's not my business to
file a protest, " and signed the scoresheet. The award ceremonies were
set aside until the Jury of Appeals could give a ruling on Iba's protest.
The Jury of Appeals met until dawn on the following day under the
chairmanship of Ference Hepp, a Hungarian. Hepp had replaced an Egyptian
who was supposed to have served on the jury but could not be located (sic).
After reviewing the film of the game which proved conclusively that the game
had exceeded 40 minutes, the jury nevertheless ruled in favor of the Soviets.
During the ensuing press conference, Hepp refused to comment on
the voting of the jury although it was rumored that the vote was three
(Communist) to two (West). Hepp stated that after the clock was stopped at
the one second mark, Righetto came to the socring table to confer with
officials about the length of time remaining in the game. He stated that
there was only one second left. (Tenschert claimed that Jones overruled
the officials at the game. ) The officials at the table, however, decided
that inasmuch as the Soviets had asked for time out, the time should be set
back to allow for the time it took the referee to react to the Soviet request.
Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B0038OR000300010089-5
 Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B00380R000300010089-5
(One reporter asked if Hepp always set the clock back after every time
out was called, but received no reply).
John Bach who was assistant coach at Munich stated, "I knew our
protests were futile when I saw the Cuban member of the appeals committee
flash an 'OK' sign with his fingers to the Russians. I heard through another
person that another member of the committee said he (the Cuban) 'wasn't
brave enough' to rule against the Russians. There was obviously a lot of
pressure on him. "
Jones later told newsmen that the issue was "an escalation of stupid
incidents" and that "... they had to know how to lose, even when they think
they are right. "
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has agreed to review
the results of the game at their next meeting which is to be held in
Lausanne, Switzerland in February 1973, but they usually do not in erfere
or change results involving technical aspects of a game.
Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP75B00380R000300010089-5