Russians turn to cinema for bout of Olympic fever

Movie based on 1972 hoops final sets box office record

• Russia’s going crazy for the Olympics. The 1972 Summer Olympics.

Even as the Russian team faces up to being barred from next month’s Winter Games for doping offences, audiences are flocking to see a movie about Soviet glory on the Olympic basketball court 46 years ago.

Going Vertical tells the story of the Soviet Union team that won gold in 1972, becoming the first basketball team in history ever to beat the United States at the Olympics.

It’s a tale of Cold War rivalry, inspiring speeches and something very familiar to Russian sports fans after recent scandals — a gold medal decided by officials.

After pulling in crowds throughout the holiday season, last week Going Vertical became the highest-earning Russian movie ever in domestic cinemas with US$ 32.5 million in takings, according to a government- backed statistics service.

At a screening in central Moscow on Thursday, audience members whooped and applauded as Alexander Belov sank the winning Soviet basket to beat the U.S. 51-50 and then cheered again when the original 1972 footage was played alongside the credits.

“I was crying tears of joy,” cinemagoer Nina Parshikova said.

To the millions of Russians who consider their country unfairly persecuted over doping allegations, even the Cold War can seem a simpler time.

Audience member Yegor Druzhinin said: “Now politics plays more of a role. Then it was sport.”

Actor Kuzma Saprykin used his childhood basketball experience to play Ivan Edeshko, who threw what Russians still call the “golden pass” for the Soviets’ winning basket.

“I didn’t think there would actually be this kind of colossal success,” he said. “It’s surprising when people send me videos, how at practically every screening people are clapping with some kind of patriotism and spirit awakening in people.”

In Russia, the game has similar significance to the U. S. “Miracle on Ice,” its defeat of the Soviet hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

The U. S. remembers the 1972 basketball gold medal game very differently — as a robbery.

The last three seconds of the final were replayed twice after the Soviet team protested their signal for a timeout had been ignored and the U. S. players twice celebrated victory before being told to play again. On the third and final play, Soviet player Ivan Edeshko threw a full-court pass for Belov to score a last-second layup.

The result prompted days of wrangling between officials from both nations and the international basketball federation. That’s left out of the movie, as is the U. S. players’ decision to reject their silver medals, which still lie unclaimed with the International Olympic Committee.