Scandal in Munich
The Olympic Games in Munich 1972 will stay in bad memory of sport fans, first of all because of terrorist attack on Israeli team in Olympic village, but also because of the scandals, which followed the basketball tournament.
The Yugoslav national team arrived to Munich as official world champions from Ljubljana 1970 still hoping to win one of the medals though the team was quite changed. The victory over Italy 85-78 at the beginning of the tournament approved the expectations, but in the second round, the Yugoslav team was defeated by Puerto Rico. Few days later, the official medical report confirmed that some players of Puerto Rico team were drugged during the match against Yugoslavia but it was decided that the game should be registered under the achieved result.
The scandalous decision that gave credit to the victory of Puerto Ricans caused anger among the players and the leadership of the Yugoslav national team. Some demanded to leave the competition in protest, the others wished to play and try winning the medal. At the end, only 23-year old Ljubodrag Simonovic refused to play and returned home sooner.
Under the impression of an unjust decision and disturbed with the conflicts from the inside, the Yugoslav team still continued with the competition and won only the fifth place winning seven games.
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