By Darasimi Oshodi
I watched a film recently, Glory Road, in which a coach led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to win the NCAA national championship in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. After watching the film, I decided to do a search of some of the greatest upsets in sports and American politics. Why American politics? I can’t really explain. It may be because I love American politics. Below are some of the stories I found. They are just few of the many stories I came across but I hope you find them enlightening.
On February 22, 1980 during the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, the United States Olympic ice hockey team, made up of amateur and collegiate players, defeated the Soviet team, which had won nearly every world championship and Olympic tournament since 1954. The Americans had gone into the third period 3-2 down but scored two goals during the period to the consternation of the Soviets. The U.S. team went on to claim the gold medal in the sport. The US victory on that day has been dubbed Miracle on Ice and movies have even been produced based on the events of that day.
In 1948, in what is widely considered the greatest upset in American presidential politics, Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeated his Republican challenger Thomas Dewey. A newspaper had already published Dewey’s victory in advance.
In the 1976 United States presidential election, relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter defeated the incumbent President Gerald Ford.
In 1978, Muhammad Ali lost to Leon Spinks in a match many had thought would be an easy win for Ali.
In 1990, Mike Tyson was beaten with a technical knockout (TKO) by James Butler Douglas, a no-name in the world of boxing. Tyson, in his penultimate fight had knocked out his opponents in 93 seconds. Continue reading “Miracle on Ice and Other Remarkable Stories of Upset”
