If either the Cold War or the USSR still existed - or it was still the 1980s former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Slava Fetisov might lay claim to the story of the year.
In a new documentary titled "Red Army" - a subject of a feature in the upcoming edition of Sports Illustrated, as USA TODAY Sports reported - says that the Soviet Union lost 4-3 semifinal hockey game in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., because of the KGB.
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Fetisov was a member of the then-Soviet Union team that was the most dominant hockey team in the world heading into the Olympics. The Soviet team had players from Moscow Dynamo, Fetisov, said, which represented the KGB. Other players were on CSKA Moscow, which was a team that represented the Red Army.
The Soviets had beaten Team USA 10-3 in an exhibition just before the start of the Olympics.
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But in the rematch in the Olympics, Fetisov said Soviet coach Victor Tikhonov, a KGB loyalist, wanted to win gold with Moscow Dynamo players. That's why he pulled No. 1 goalie Vladislav Tretiak, a CSKA Moscow player, in favor of goalie Vladimir Myshkin, who represented Moscow Dynamo, after the first period.
"Three out of four goals was scored on a Dynamo player defensively," Fetisov said in the documentary, according to USA TODAY Sports. "It's a KGB organization. Three goals out of four. I didn't allow one goal in this game."
Even though the U.S. played Finland in the final game of the Olympics, the format was a round-robin of the final four. The Soviets ended up with the silver medal after defeating Sweden.
"For American people, selective memory, it's a national thing," he said, Tampabay.com reported. "I admit, I own one of the most famous silver medals in sports history. Correct? Done?"
The 1972 U.S. Olympic Basketball Team may object, even though its members never actually accepted the silver medals after losing to the Soviet Union 51-50 in one of the most controversial games in Olympics history.
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