Word: soviet
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Nevertheless, their fluid fakes and brilliant improvisations drew large crowds, even to their practice sessions. A bravura moment came when Herb Williams, 21, a forward from Ohio State, slammed home a fearsome dunk against Yugoslavia and shattered the backboard in the process. After a moment of startled silence, the Soviet crowd roared with laughter and cheers, and one straight-faced official quipped: "Please ask your player not to perform that play any more than five times-we only have six more backboards...
Among Eastern bloc teams, the Soviet Union showed its usual depth and set two women's world records. No new sports monolith rose from obscurity in the way East Germany did in 1972. But a tiny star may have been born. Natalia Shaposhnikova, 18, an 84-lb. Soviet gymnast, captured both the all-round competition and the fancy of onlookers; "Natasha" may well become the Olga Korbut...
Track competitors had an especially frustrating time preparing for their races. Frequently they would warm up only to end up waiting in a cold concrete room for 30 minutes before the start of their events. Said Ron Davis, 22, a 400-meter man: "The Soviet athletes are used to being told to take off their sweats, then stand in the wind for ten minutes. We aren't. Maybe we have to get used...
...most important message will be that U.S. Olympians must learn a little Soviet-style comradeliness if they hope to fare well next summer. "It's pretty cutthroat back home-you've got no friends when the gun goes off-but in Russia next year, we are going to have to put all of that aside," said Stan Vinson. "We aren't just running against other athletes, we're running against a system. And nobody is going to look...
Very early on, while others dismissed Hitler as an unimportant barbarian, Malcolm Muggeridge described the Nazi rise as a threat to civilization. He also fellow-traveled to the Soviet Union in 1932 and found Joseph Stalin a dangerous influence. Sounding alarms to the readership of the Guardian had little effect-except on the Muggeridge style. Soon he was deriding his own trade: "The only fun of journalism is that it puts you in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them or take them seriously. It is the ideal profession for those who find power fascinating...