Hall of Famer Michael Jordan took Team USA’s 1972 Olympics loss ‘personally’ and vowed to win the gold medal in the future.
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Michael grew up under his father’s sharp scrutiny. He was under the constant stress of winning his father’s approval. But impressing James Jordan wasn’t easy.
So for Michael, it was an ultimate upwards battle for him until his NBA days. But even that amount of criticism couldn’t douse the ambitious fire inside of MJ. Instead, it only further fueled the young Jordan.
In a similar show of ambition, His Airness once reacted to the 1972 Olympics in an oracle-like fashion. He predicted he would win a gold medal in the future.
Michael Jordan promised his mother he would win gold
As a 9-year-old, MJ watched the legendary showdown between Soviet Union and America. The cold war was at its peak then.
The two countries were sworn rivals and the scenario was no different on the basketball court. Michael Jordan witnessed multiple injuries and ejections in the game. And after an extremely controversial end, the USA lost the game 50-49.
After the game, MJ quietly went to his mother in the kitchen. He then proclaimed that one day he would win an Olympic gold medal. Deloris took the young Jordan lightly and reminded him that an Olympic gold was not easy to get.
In his book Michael Jordan: The Life, author Roland Lazenby wrote about the interaction.
Lazenby: “When the Americans lost amidst great controversy, Michael retreated to the kitchen to tell his mother. “He said, ‘I’m going to be in the Olympics one day and I’m going to make sure we win,'” Deloris recalled later. “I smiled to myself and said, ‘Honey, that takes a lot to win the gold medal.'”
MJ’s legendary Olympics performance still resonates throughout history
In 1984, right before the year, Jordan made his NBA debut, he competed in the Summer Olympics. He led team USA to gold and fulfilled his long-standing promise to his mother.
But that wasn’t the end of Michael Jordan’s international conquest. As fate would have it, 1992 marked the end of a long-standing FIBA rule that banned NBA players from appearing in the Olympics. The same year. Team USA featured some of the best players known to mankind.
The team nicknamed ‘Dream Team‘ included names such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, and Michael Jordan. Jordan outperformed everyone in that tournament and announced his supremacy to the world. But he also outdid his prediction which was once considered far-fetched by his own mother.
