“Championship” journalists were able to attend the closed press screening and were among the first to see what the creators of “Crew” and “Legend 17” did.

In order to be more objective, we went to the premiere together with the curator of the “Basketball” section, Nikita Zagday. In our review, we will present two positions: a person who does not understand basketball and frantically took out his phone every 15 minutes to check the too wildly twisting plot with facts from Wikipedia, and a person who knew exactly what was happening in those last few seconds on the court, and came to the hall in order to understand whether the film turned out “about basketball” or whether it was just a beautiful artistic and commercial picture.

A non-basketball look at the movie “Moving Up”

Throughout the entire film I had the feeling: “Well, this couldn’t really happen!” Therefore, the hand reached for the phone to once again double-check the facts studied on the eve of the premiere. In my review, I will try to focus on those facts that could hook the most ordinary viewer who came to the cinema. Personally, as a person who is not very deeply immersed in basketball topics, I was most worried about the question: “What was it really like?”

About the plot of the film: 1970 - the head coach of the USSR national basketball team is replaced, with the wording “the Soviet government does not forgive losses.” The legendary Gomelsky is being replaced by the not yet so famous coach of the Leningrad “Spartak” Vladimir Petrovich Garanzhin (the prototype is the real coach of the national team Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin). Everything changes with him: from the composition to the training methods and playing tactics. The national team has not just an ambitious, but, at first glance, an unattainable goal - to beat the invincible Americans at the Olympics in Munich in 1972.

How was it really?

Matches between US and USSR athletes in all sports have always been of a principled nature. The US national basketball team was considered the favorite before the 1972 Games tournament. Since 1936, that is, since basketball appeared in the program of the Summer Games, American athletes have never lost.

Against the background of the main plot, several complex and at the same time dramatic lines unfold, which make this film lively and fulfilling. The son of Vladimir Petrovich needs an expensive operation abroad, the only chance to convince the Soviet government to sign all the exit sheets is to become a hero, to do something impossible and important for all Soviet sports.

How was it really?

The son of the legendary coach Vladimir Kondrashin, Yuri, really needed an expensive operation; he has been confined to a wheelchair all his life. Diagnosis: cerebral palsy.

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

In parallel with this, a plot revolves around the center of the national team, Alexander Belov. During a trip to training camp in America, he is diagnosed with a rare disease - heart sarcoma, doctors give him from six months to a couple of years to live.

How was it really?

After the Olympics in Munich, Belov lived for another six years. The famous athlete was treated by a whole group of eminent professors, who established the cause of his illness: armored mesh. A disease when lime, like a shell, covers the heart muscle from year to year. Eventually the person stops breathing. The disease was incurable, and the doctors knew it very well. Belov's coach Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin tried to find a doctor in the USA who could cure his talented student, but this attempt was unsuccessful. When Belov became very ill, he wrote a letter to his friend Vanya Rozhin that he would bequeath the Olympic medal to the coach (at that time medals were given only to players).

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

The motto of the last years of Belov’s life became the phrase “As long as you’re alive, anything is possible.” This permeates the entire plot of the film. The victory of the national team in the last seconds of the match becomes not just a victory for the country, but something more personal for each hero of that very game. Then not just the outcome of the fight was decided, but destinies were decided.

But these are not all plot lines and twists and turns; the film also contained a place for a beautiful love story between Alexander Belov and Alexandra Svechnikova (the prototype of the heroine is basketball player Alexandra Ovchinnikova). And Georgian feasts with Zurab and Mishiko (Mikhail Korkia and Zurab Sakandelidze - “Georgian tandem” - players of the USSR national team).

And the infamous “Olympic terrorist attack”, which took the lives of 11 people from the Israeli team. My colleague will talk about this in more detail in his review.

You need to watch all this, you need to feel it and carry it through yourself, and if you tell it in advance, then it won’t be interesting to watch. The main thing I would like to note when talking about the film is that it turned out to be honest both towards us and towards the American team. Unlike the caricatured hockey players in “Legend 17,” “Moving Up” gave credit to both teams, there was no goal to show the Americans in an unfavorable angle, the goal was to convey the atmosphere of the battle of champions against champions, the best against the best.

A basketball look at the film “Moving Up”: a story that had to be invented

Nikita Zagday, curator of the “Basketball” section, tells

“Red car”, “Soviet sport”, “played for the country” and other stereotypical cliches can be safely thrown out of your head when you go to the cinema to see “Moving Up”. Everything you need to know about this film is that it is not about basketball.

This was exactly my biggest fear. Because I knew how carefully the creators approached basketball stories. Director Anton Megerdichev delved into the topic so much that he began watching thematic television magazines and studying basketball news. Ivan Edeshko acted as a consultant and was practically responsible for the accuracy of the invoice.

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

The author of that very pass, the hero of the main episode and one of the creators of the victory is an accomplice in the film adaptation! Basketball people took part in the filming. From 2007 European champion Nikolai Padius to the heroes of Moscow street venues. And there were serious concerns that it would just be a sports film for an extremely narrow audience. For the filming of the film, a basketball court was assembled practically from polystyrene foam. To film stunts without killing actors and stunt doubles on the hard parquet. But all this, as it turned out, is just an illustration for another story.

• Munich 72 is not just a sports fairy tale with a happy ending. It's something more. To begin with, this is simply one of the most incredible Olympic tales. It is no coincidence that the Americans still have not taken the silver medals, as if adding a few more touches to that mystical story. But even in this legend there are a thousand more hidden scenario lines that don’t even need to be invented.
• Munich is a tragedy with political overtones. Terrorists shoot the Israeli team and change Olympic sports. Political overtones (but for some reason under the slogan “sport is beyond politics”), security – all these are perhaps the most important aspects of each subsequent Olympics.
• Munich is the starting point for world basketball. In 1972, the Americans lost for the first time. And a confrontation within the Cold War was born. USSR versus USA. The way basketball looks now is the aftermath of that very battle. The result of all this is the emergence of the “dream team” 20 years later, and the globalization of basketball. 3 seconds didn’t just turn the world upside down, they shook it up, but didn’t mix it right away.
• Munich gave birth to a real coaching confrontation. Gomelsky created that same team. But Kondrashin was able to win the Olympics with her. And then domestic basketball was actually divided into two camps. For the sake of fairness, Gomelsky won gold at the Games only in 1988. Putting an end to the basketball chapter called “Soviet vs. USA.”

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

• This victory almost officially formalized Sergei Belov’s status as a legend. Without this gold, his greatness was a little less bright. No matter how dominant a basketball player of his time he was, only victories make him great. And 20 points in the final against the invincible Americans is perhaps the main feat in Sergei Belov’s career.
• Alexander Belov is the author of the winning throw and the owner of an incurable disease. Only life itself could invent such a story. To become the hero of the main episode in the history of Olympic basketball and die at the age of 26.
• Ivan Edeshko. A point guard with a height of 195. This was years ahead of his time. And the not so fast, but tall playmaker appeared in the national team precisely on the initiative of Vladimir Kondrashin. Know-how from the early 70s. The Magic Johnson of his time! The result is the same pass. Another story.
• Modestas Paulauskas. One of the first Lithuanian legends. I almost escaped from the USSR. But he stayed and won the Olympics. Another story that deserves to be filmed.

• Vladimir Kondrashin. The one who was not afraid of bold experiments and prepared separately for the match with the Americans. He bet on Edeshko. He put two Georgians Sakandelidze and Korkia together in the final for the first time, raising the level of passion to an incredible level.

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

This is the story of people. Those for whom basketball was the meaning of life, and for some just a job. The directors of Moving Up didn't choose the story. They mixed it all up and intertwined it with each other. Knitted costumes of Soviet athletes, and excellent scenery. A bit of party politics, which was an important part of “amateur sports” at the time. And incredible stories of people. Different nationalities, born in villages, cities, in different cultures and otherwise accepting the common flag of the USSR.

After watching the film, clumsily containing my delight, I wanted to do only one thing - dial Ivan Edeshko’s number and ask two questions. Ivan Ivanovich answered the call immediately.

How accurately are the characters of the players of that team conveyed?
- Slightly exaggerated, but nothing was invented. That's pretty much how it was.

Is the chronology of the final match of the Olympics an artistic move?
- What are you talking about?! We talked it over, discussed and debated so many times. The filmmakers wanted to convey the emotions and mood of that time as accurately as possible. Of course, basketball is shown differently. But the point is true. We won that match and almost lost ourselves. Sergei Belov was great. None of the Americans could stop him. All this is shown, and there is some justice in this. Of course, we didn’t score with such frills, but they explained it to me as a desire to show all the brightness of basketball. So if you don’t focus on all this acrobatics, then yes. The film is more documentary than fiction.

Now that the film is ready for premieres, the producers are engaged in serious promotion. And this is not just using the tools of the domestic film industry with billboards in the center of Moscow. This is truly a basketball story. The actors go to matches, together with Alzhan Zharmukhamedov and Ivan Edeshko they arranged an autograph session at a Euroleague match. And it was incredibly touching. Edeshko together with the actor who played Ivan Ivanovich. The film's actors have already played several exhibition matches. The pre-screening for film critics was held in parallel for the “basketball party.” And if harsh film critics cynically and coldly praised the film, then inexperienced viewers could hardly hold back their tears. Some because basketball deserves the big screen. And others - because of the awareness of the scale of the personalities of that feat. 3 seconds is not just an episode of the final match. This is the icing on the cake of great drama.

For a while, basketball became more than just the basis for a great movie. It has become part of something bigger than just a sport with the hashtag “best ball game.”

Three seconds that shocked the world

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BASKETBALL

The final of the Olympics in Munich is undoubtedly the most striking basketball event of the last century. The phenomenal game of Sergei Belov, who scored 20 points and, of course, Ivan Edeshko’s cross-court pass to Alexander Belov will forever remain in the memory of fans and specialists.

Let us note that the Munich victory of the USSR national team opened a new era in basketball. Until then, the Americans had never lost the main basketball tournament of the four years. The US team could be as indifferent as it wanted to the world championships and continental tournaments. Sometimes the “staff members” sent frankly weak teams to these competitions, formed according to one principle known only to them. However, the Olympics were a special competition for the founders of basketball. Victory in it was considered a matter of honor. The selection for the national team was the most severe, and the best of the best student players at that time received the right to enter the court. It is quite natural that almost all Olympic champions, with rare exceptions, came to the attention of National Basketball Association breeders and concluded lucrative contracts with clubs in the best league in the world. It is not surprising that the US Olympic basketball team was considered invincible, beating all its opponents by crushing scores.

There were no surprises at the 1972 Olympics either. In the preliminary tournament, the Americans crushed everyone, as they say, in one basket, and in the semifinals they also dealt with the Italian team without any problems - 68:38. Our basketball players, on the contrary, on the way to the final, only in the last minutes literally snatched victory from the Cubans - 67:61. At the beginning of the final match, the advantage was on the side of the USSR team. In the eyes of the Americans there is bewilderment, surprise, shock. To the credit of the US team, they managed to pull themselves together and organize a pursuit. As a result, the ending of the match became the most intense and dramatic in the history of world basketball.

In our opinion, the final three seconds of that match were most interestingly and professionally described by the now, alas, deceased Anatoly Pinchuk in the magazine “Yunost”. By the way, he worked for a long time as a basketball columnist for the Soviet Sport newspaper. On Saturday, Russia's first sports channel 7TV gave all basketball fans a royal gift, showing all the vicissitudes of that memorable meeting.

It’s hard to believe now, but the historical “three seconds” might not have happened. Another 8 seconds before the final siren, our team won 49:48 and had the ball. The 30 seconds allotted for the attack at that time were coming to an end, and Alexander Belov decided to throw from an awkward position. A miss, but in some incomprehensible way the ball ended up in the hands of our center again. He had several options. Nearby was Modestas Paulauskas, undisguised by anyone, and Sergei Belov, a little further away. In principle, Alexander could simply hold the ball for 5 seconds, and then, according to the rules, a jump ball would be awarded. The first two options would certainly lead to victory, the third - most likely. However, our center unexpectedly chose the riskiest one - he passed “through the zone” to Zurab Sakandelidze. As a result, American forward Doug Collins intercepted the ball and rushed into a fast break.

Subsequently, the head coach of the USSR national team, Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin, repeatedly emphasized that Alexander Belov simply corrected his mistake. They say that in the locker room after the match, he terribly scolded our center for this almost decisive mistake. Sakandelidze helped by literally “cutting down” Collins. However, he - a man without nerves - was accurate twice in a row. Taking a minute break, Kondrashin gave instructions to conduct the final attack through Sergei Belov, but this preparation did not work. Fortunately, the judges' table did not have time to start the stopwatch in time. As a result, at the last moment the plan was changed, and it all ended with Ivan Edeshko’s miracle pass across the entire court to Alexander Belov, who carefully sent the ball into the hoop from the “fence.”

CURIOUS

Until 1972, the Americans had never lost the main basketball tournament of the four years.

The Olympics were a special competition for the founders of basketball.

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Interesting review of the film "Upward movement", from my regular reader Dmitry Kondrashov

So...

About the film
(link in vk)

For as long as I can remember, I have always been indifferent to basketball.

However, the film “Moving Up”, based on the legendary story of the confrontation between the USSR and the USA in the finals of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, made me radically change my attitude towards this greatest and original sports discipline, which for many professional athletes is a real philosophy, and for the multi-million army of basketball fans - religion. Contrary to the latest “film masterpieces” of the modern Russian film industry of a patriotic nature, such as “Legend No. 17”, a remake of the film “Crew”, “Viking”, etc. - this film exceeded all our wildest expectations.

"Upward movement"- indeed, one of the few, in my memory, worthwhile Russian-made films, telling about the outstanding pages of Soviet sports, the formation of the national school of basketball, a real TEAM, an unbending will to win, and most importantly, about the athlete’s desire not to become famous himself, but to glorify, first of all , his country, whose coat of arms is embossed in gold thread on his scarlet playing jersey.

The plot, in addition to the grandiose battle between two sports superpowers, is based on the family drama of the head coach of the USSR national basketball team, Vladimir Garanzhin (the screen prototype of Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin).

His son, Shurka, is a wheelchair user who has lost the ability to walk, but there is hope for his recovery; he needs an operation, which was not performed in the union at that time, only in the West. However, there is no evidence from Kondrashin’s wife on this matter (she was generally against this film).

However, I will give below the opinions of the real heroes of the film, from whom this film chronicle was written; in addition, I will also present a number of sports facts and interesting points regarding this epoch-making battle, as well as the events that preceded it, both in the Soviet and world basketball and compare all the available episodes from life with what happened on the screen. But first things first. So, first, the cinematic component. Putting his son on his feet is the main life goal of coach Garangin, who, of course, was played great (but not flawlessly) by Vladimir Mashkov (in general, it must be admitted, Mashkov is in his best traditions: “The Thief”, “Liquidation”, “Motherland”, etc. . gave the picture a certain nerve, a certain charisma, drive and, of course, drama). However, during the film epic we learn that the team in the life of a Soviet specialist means no less than his own family, or rather the sports team and close relatives - this is one big family of coach Garanzhin.

From the first frames, the picture literally captivates the viewer. On the eve of the Olympics, the head coach of the USSR national basketball team is changing.

The newly minted mentor Garanzhin ignites the team again, revives it, through the introduction of innovative methods of training athletes, based on his many years of observations and developments, sets a new vector of development. The fixed idea is to beat the founders of basketball, the Americans, who by that time, in the entire history of their performances at the Olympic Games, had never suffered defeat. An adventurous and seemingly impossible task, given the strength and power of the Stars and Stripes. Plus, there is a tense political situation between the two countries, caused by the Cold War, which is now in its third decade. The Soviet sports and party leadership (Garmash, Basharov, Smolyakov) predictably finds itself perplexed by the ambitions of the head coach, creating all sorts of obstacles and hedging at every step, trying to simultaneously keep a “finger on the pulse” and at the same time “spread straws for themselves.” “in case of a fiasco of the country’s main team (an unprecedented search of all team members at customs, the presence of informants in the team, and other “cultural enlightenment work” of that time). But, as people say, “the eyes fear, but the hands do.”

Kirill Zaitsev as the attacking midfielder of the USSR national team, Sergei Belov

Strenuous, intense physical activity alternates with thoughtful tactical training - the Garanzhin method in action. And the result was not long in coming; the Soviet Union basketball team won one victory after another. First, we win gold medals at the European Championship, defeating the Yugoslav national team in the match for 1st place, then we go to Sao Paulo (Brazil) for the Intercontinental Basketball Cup, where in the decisive match we defeat the hosts of the tournament.

From left to right:
Georgian actor Irakli Mikava in the role of the attacking defender of the USSR national team, Zurab Sakandelidze; Russian actor Ivan Kolesnikov in the role of forward of the USSR national team, Alexander Belov; Georgian actor Otar Lortkipanidze as the attacking defender of the USSR national team, Mikhail Korkiya (Mishiko)

Thus, the “red machine” confidently moves towards its main championship in history, where in the final, in one of the most spectacular and memorable matches in the entire history of the Olympic movement, it overthrows the hitherto invincible Americans from the throne. A separate topic is, of course, the technical component of the film, special effects, and atmosphere on the screen. “Moving Up” was filmed in the best traditions of modern action films. I will share my own emotions. When there were only a few minutes left before the end of the final match, ours were still leading, but the Americans began to rapidly reduce the gap in the score, the camera captures the Soviet fans in the stands and they throw a painfully familiar, dear cry - “puck!”, “puck!”, At this moment I also wanted to jump to my feet and chant with them...

Kuzma Saprykin as the point guard of the USSR national team, Ivan Edeshko

And finally, the apotheosis of the film (the winning throw of Alexander Belov in the last seconds of the final match with the Americans), the authors tried to convey using the “Mannequin Challenge” technique, when for 55 seconds in the gym where the final of the USSR-USA Olympic Games is taking place, time stops, everyone around freezes (players, coaches, technical staff, spectators in the stands), and the camera hovers over the arena dome and films everything that happens.

In addition, the positive sense of humor of its creators adds to the positive atmosphere of the film. For example, in my opinion, a fictitious episode of a “yard fight” between our guys and local basketball fans from American gateways, which happened during the USSR national team’s tour of the USA, was successfully interspersed into the general outline, within the framework of the head coach’s strategic idea (matches with student teams for experience of personal meetings with the founders of basketball).

A friendly match with fans of street basketball in the American slums, in the back, in the center, former basketball player and now actor Alexander Ryapolov as the center of the USSR national team, Alzhan Zharmukhamedov

Also, the Georgian wedding smiled, which, according to the director’s plan, our athletes attended in full force to support the groom and part-time team partner Mikhail Korkiya (Mishiko), and at the same time train in the mountains to maintain athletic shape and game tone.

Georgian wedding Mishiko

The detective component was not ignored either. They touched upon the main “information bomb” of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich - the hostage-taking in the Olympic village, as well as the failed spy immigration to his relatives in the West, the obstinate Lithuanian Modest Paulauskas (Modya), who at the last moment changed his mind and remained faithful to the national team and its coach ( another director's idea).

Friendly match with the US student team, as part of the overseas tour of the USSR national team

And finally, about the dramaturgy, which made the viewer truly feel. I was personally convinced that there was not a single person in the hall who would be left indifferent to the sincere tears of gratitude of the head coach, to whom the national team players give their bonuses, having learned that he secretly donated all his personal savings (accumulated for his son for an operation) for treatment their terminally ill teammate. A curtain. Applause. Most people have wet eyes.

A fairy tale in places? Maybe. The film has enough fiction and spectacular scenes that are now so revered by the public, and the young actors, at times, openly overact. But this does not negate the main thing - the film was a great success and this is recognized by many, including the participants of that super final, who seemed to look 45 years younger, having relived everything that happened on the screen.

About history
(link in vk)

And now it's time to talk about what really happened.

This year marks 46 years since that significant date for all domestic sports - the golden Olympic triumph of the Soviet Union basketball team over their counterparts from the United States of America. The founders of basketball, the Americans, had no equal in the world for quite a long time. However, in the late 40s of the 20th century, the star of the USSR national team began to rise on the world stage. Our team rapidly gained momentum and soon became the strongest on the European continent.

USSR national team 1972, Sitting: (from left to right) Modestas Paulauskas (Modya), Mikhail Korkia (Mishiko), Zurab Sakandelidze, Ivan Edeshko, Sergei Belov, standing: Alzhan Zharmukhamedov, Gennady Volnov, Anatoly Polivoda, Sergei Kovalenko, Alexander Belov, Ivan Dvorny and Alexander Boloshev.

At four Olympics in a row (from 1952 to 1964), the Soviet Union basketball team won silver, second only to the Americans. In 1959, at the World Cup in Chile, our team beat everyone, including the Americans, and actually took first place, but did not become the winner of the world championship. The team was disqualified for refusing a match with the Taiwanese national team for political reasons.

Relations between the USSR and the PRC were friendly, and the party leadership forbade our athletes to participate in the match against the island that had been separated from China. In 1963, at the World Championships in Brazil, the USSR team took third place, defeating the Americans 75:74. And in 1967, in Montevideo (Uruguay), Soviet basketball players became world champions for the first time in their history. True, we lost to the US team then - 58:59.

For many years, our team was coached by Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky, a legend of Russian basketball; his players respectfully called him “dad”. He actually built this wonderful sport from scratch. After the Soviet team took third place first at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and then at the 1970 World Championships in Yugoslavia, Gomelsky was removed from his post as head coach for unsatisfactory results.

Honored Coach of the USSR, Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky ("dad")

The preparation of the USSR national team for the 1972 Olympics in Munich was entrusted to the shoulders of his eternal rival in the national championship, Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin, whom, in turn, the students called “father”.

Both coaches competed in the USSR Championship for a long time, Gomelsky coached CSKA Moscow, Kondrashin coached Spartak St. Petersburg. Under Kondrashin, the national team's play became more diverse in tactical formations.

Master of Sports, Honored Coach of the USSR national team, Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin (“father”).

The atmosphere in the team returned to normal, the players, after a number of past failures, calmed down and managed to loosen up. The path to the dream match with the Americans lay through everyday, hard, monotonous work. The Soviet specialist tried to take a new, creative approach to the training process, introducing a number of unique techniques that were ahead of their time, incl. and his own invention, based on more powerful, contact basketball (similar to overseas), in addition, an innovation with a large number of substitutions during the match was successfully implemented.

Also, under Vladimir Petrovich, the main character of the 1972 Olympic Games final in Munich, Alexander Belov, truly revealed himself and sparkled. In a word, Kondrashin managed to breathe a second life into the Soviet basketball team; the team had something to surprise its potential rivals. Unlike the director's version, the USSR national team, led by Kondrashin, achieved its first successes in the international arena already in 1970 in Turin (Italy), winning the Universiade. Then, she won gold medals at the 1971 European Championship in Germany, beating the Yugoslav team in the final - 69:64.

The main start for our team - the 1972 Olympic tournament took place in Munich from August 27 to September 9. At the initial stage, the participating teams were divided into two groups of 8 teams. The teams that took 1-2 places in their groups advanced directly to the semi-finals of the competition. Ours reached the semi-finals from first place in the group, having won 7 victories in 7 matches (the teams of Senegal, Philippines, Poland, Germany, Puerto Rico, Yugoslavia and Italy were beaten).

In the parallel group, the Americans achieved a similar result of victories in each match. On September 7, in the semi-finals of the Olympic tournament, the USSR national team beat the Cuban national team, not without difficulty, after the first 20 minutes the team from Liberty Island even led by one point, but in the second half of the match our guys managed to tip the scales in their favor, the final the score is 67:61. In the other semi-final, the Stars and Stripes, without any problems, beat the Italian team - 68-38.

The final of the basketball tournament of the Olympic Games in Munich USSR - USA. According to the rules of that time, the match consisted of two halves of 20 minutes, three-pointers did not exist at that time, and it was also forbidden to score from above. In the last 3 minutes of the game, it was mandatory to cross the center line in at least 10 seconds, and there was no “zone” rule. In addition, in the event of a violation of the rules, the team that received the right to free kicks could refuse them and simply retain possession of the ball, this allowed them to play for time at the end of the match.

For the convenience of the overseas television audience, the final match began late in the evening of September 9, 1972, at 23:50 local time. Throughout the meeting, the USSR team had an advantage, often the gap in the score reached 10 points. Without exaggeration, the number 10 of the Soviet Union national team, Sergei Belov, who scored 20 points during the match, was a blast on the floor that evening! The Americans were clearly discouraged and did not expect such agility from our basketball players. 9 minutes before the end of the match, the advantage of the USSR national team again reached 10 points.

The experienced coach of the US national team, Henry Aiba, gives the instruction - “do not spare the opponent,” and the Americans begin to put pressure, play aggressively, applying total pressure throughout the entire court, and a minute before the end, the advantage of the USSR national team was reduced to one point, our players were tired and began to get nervous and make mistakes. Eight seconds before the final siren, the Soviet Union team led 49:48. Ours are in attack, after the play, the team-mates passed the ball to Alexander Belov, and he, in turn, after a series of feints and an unsuccessful attempt to shoot from under the hoop, passes back and gets hit by a “blocked shot” by American Tom McMillan. The Americans intercepted and our team had to foul to save the match, but Zurab Sakandelidze “rescued”, but Juglas Collins scored both free throws.

The score on the scoreboard, for the first time in the entire match, is in favor of the Americans - 49:50. At that same second, the coach of the USSR national team, Vladimir Kondrashin, asked for a time-out, but the judges did not notice this (or pretended to) and in the end they did not give it. Then, after heated arguments with the judges' table, our team was given a time-out. The referee stopped the match with only three seconds left to play. During the pause, Kondrashin reassures the guys: “Why are you worried? Time is running out! You can win and then lose again.” And instead of Alzhan Zharmukhamedov, he releases Ivan Edeshko, remembering that he has a filigree passing technique, perfected when playing handball. After the break, substitute Edeshko put the ball into play; he passed to Paulauskas, who in turn passed to Alexander Belov, who was under the shield, but missed.

And at that moment the final siren sounded, joyful Americans poured onto the site and began to frantically celebrate their victory. As it turned out later, we rejoiced too early... The stopwatch made a mistake. According to one version, the stopwatch was started immediately after Ivan Edeshko’s pass, and according to the rules of basketball, the time after the ball is put into play starts when the ball touched one of the players on the field, according to another version: he mixed up the buttons (the stopwatch read 50 seconds) and the final siren sounded only to stop the meeting and set the correct time on the stopwatch.

An interesting fact: this idiot, who was lost in time, was called Joseph Blatter, the same old Sepp who, 25 years later, would take the post of FIFA president. The bickering began again, this time with the participation of representatives of both teams. Serious passions raged, the Americans refused to go out and finish the match, considering themselves winners by right.

They were called to order by the Secretary General of the International Basketball Federation, Dr. William Jones, who demanded that they follow the rules of basketball. And the Stars and Stripes coach Henry Aiba eventually managed to persuade his players to continue the match, incl. and the words that a simple formality remains - 3 seconds, victory is in our pocket anyway.

William Jones

In the end, the referees managed to restore order on the site, clear it of fans and resume the game. The referee handed the ball to Ivan Edeshko, and in front of him, number 13 of the US team, the tall Tom McMillen, stood like a rock with his hands raised. However, then, after the referee’s gesture symbolizing the wall (and in fact, the referee meant that you cannot raise your hands over the line of the court, thus depicting the border), the American stepped aside, taking this as a referee’s remark and released him, thereby most, space for our player.

Without thinking twice, the point guard of the USSR national team sends a “homing” pass across the entire court under the ring to Alexander Belov, who at that moment was being held by two Americans, James Forbes and Kevin Joyce. This is how Belov himself describes this fateful moment of the match: “There were two Americans. Number ten is a little closer to the center than me, number fourteen is between the front and me, closer to me. I showed a feint movement, then turned sharply and rushed towards the shield. The pass was great. And he found himself under the shield all alone. I even turned around: there was no one. And I threw the ball very carefully with my right hand.”

Exactly. And that’s it, the siren sounds about the end of the match. VICTORY, our commentator Irina Eremina exclaims loudly into the microphone! And at the same moment, overwhelmed with joy, the players of the USSR national team arrange a pile of mala under their ring. After the match, the Americans filed a protest. All night while the proceedings were going on, our players were in suspense. As a result, the protest was rejected: three votes against, two for.

It is curious that one of the judges who made the decision was Hungarian by nationality. His parents died in 1956, when Soviet tanks entered Budapest, and, nevertheless, the voice of this referee was among those who spoke out in favor of preserving the victorious result for the USSR national team.

By the way, the Americans still consider themselves winners; not only did they refuse to receive silver medals, but they also bequeathed their descendants not to do this under any circumstances. However, at the same time, they still admitted that Belov should have been held tighter.

Dedicated to the legendary basketball match and the victory of the Soviet team at the Olympics in Munich in 1972. The outcome of the match between the USSR and the USA was decided in the last seconds. “Championship” journalists were able to attend the closed press screening and were among the first to see what the creators of “Crew” and “Legend 17” did.

In order to be more objective, we went to the premiere together with the curator of the “Basketball” section, Nikita Zagday. In our review, we will present two positions: a person who does not understand basketball and frantically took out his phone every 15 minutes to check the too wildly twisting plot with facts from Wikipedia, and a person who knew exactly what was happening in those last few seconds on the court, and came to the hall in order to understand whether the film turned out “about basketball” or whether it was just a beautiful artistic and commercial picture.

A non-basketball look at the movie “Moving Up”

Throughout the entire film I had the feeling: “Well, this couldn’t really happen!” Therefore, the hand reached for the phone to once again double-check the facts studied on the eve of the premiere. In my review, I will try to focus on those facts that could hook the most ordinary viewer who came to the cinema. Personally, as a person who is not very deeply immersed in basketball topics, I was most worried about the question: “What was it really like?”

About the plot of the film: 1970 - the head coach of the USSR national basketball team is replaced, with the wording “the Soviet government does not forgive losses.” The legendary Gomelsky is being replaced by the not yet so famous coach of the Leningrad “Spartak” Vladimir Petrovich Garanzhin (the prototype is the real coach of the national team Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin). Everything changes with him: from the composition to the training methods and playing tactics. The national team has not just an ambitious, but, at first glance, an unattainable goal - to beat the invincible Americans at the Olympics in Munich in 1972.

How was it really?

Matches between US and USSR athletes in all sports have always been of a principled nature. The US national basketball team was considered the favorite before the 1972 Games tournament. Since 1936, that is, since basketball appeared in the program of the Summer Games, American athletes have never lost.

Against the background of the main plot, several complex and at the same time dramatic lines unfold, which make this film lively and fulfilling. The son of Vladimir Petrovich needs an expensive operation abroad, the only chance to convince the Soviet government to sign all the exit sheets is to become a hero, to do something impossible and important for all Soviet sports.

How was it really?

The son of the legendary coach Vladimir Kondrashin, Yuri, really needed an expensive operation; he has been confined to a wheelchair all his life. Diagnosis: cerebral palsy.

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

In parallel with this, a plot revolves around the center of the national team, Alexander Belov. During a trip to training camp in America, he is diagnosed with a rare disease - heart sarcoma, doctors give him from six months to a couple of years to live.

How was it really?

After the Olympics in Munich, Belov lived for another six years. The famous athlete was treated by a whole group of eminent professors, who established the cause of his illness: armored mesh. A disease when lime, like a shell, covers the heart muscle from year to year. Eventually the person stops breathing. The disease was incurable, and the doctors knew it very well. Belov's coach Vladimir Petrovich Kondrashin tried to find a doctor in the USA who could cure his talented student, but this attempt was unsuccessful. When Belov became very ill, he wrote a letter to his friend Vanya Rozhin that he would bequeath the Olympic medal to the coach (at that time medals were given only to players).

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

The motto of the last years of Belov’s life became the phrase “As long as you’re alive, anything is possible.” This permeates the entire plot of the film. The victory of the national team in the last seconds of the match becomes not just a victory for the country, but something more personal for each hero of that very game. Then not just the outcome of the fight was decided, but destinies were decided.

But these are not all plot lines and twists and turns; there was also a place in the film for a beautiful love story between Alexander Belov and Alexandra Svechnikova (prototype of the heroine - basketball player Alexandra Ovchinnikova). And Georgian feasts with Zurab and Mishiko ( Mikhail Korkiya And Zurab Sakandelidze- “Georgian tandem” - players of the USSR national team).

And the infamous “Olympic terrorist attack”, which took the lives of 11 people from the Israeli team. My colleague will talk about this in more detail in his review.

You need to watch all this, you need to feel it and carry it through yourself, and if you tell it in advance, then it won’t be interesting to watch. The main thing I would like to note when talking about the film is that it turned out to be honest both towards us and towards the American team. Unlike the caricatured hockey players in “Legend 17,” “Moving Up” gave credit to both teams, there was no goal to show the Americans in an unfavorable angle, the goal was to convey the atmosphere of the battle of champions against champions, the best against the best.

A basketball look at the film “Moving Up”: a story that had to be invented

Nikita Zagday, curator of the “Basketball” section, tells

“Red car”, “Soviet sport”, “played for the country” and other stereotypical cliches can be safely thrown out of your head when you go to the cinema to see “Moving Up”. Everything you need to know about this film is that it is not about basketball.

This was exactly my biggest fear. Because I knew how carefully the creators approached basketball stories. Director Anton Megerdichev delved into the topic so much that he began watching thematic television magazines and studying basketball news. Ivan Edeshko acted as a consultant and was practically responsible for the accuracy of the invoice.

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

The author of that very pass, the hero of the main episode and one of the creators of the victory is an accomplice in the film adaptation! Basketball people took part in the filming. From European champion 2007 Nikolai Padius to the heroes of Moscow street venues. And there were serious concerns that it would just be a sports film for an extremely narrow audience. For the filming of the film, a basketball court was assembled practically from polystyrene foam. To film stunts without killing actors and stunt doubles on the hard parquet. But all this, as it turned out, is just an illustration for another story.

• Munich 72 is not just a sports fairy tale with a happy ending. It's something more. To begin with, this is simply one of the most incredible Olympic tales. It is no coincidence that the Americans still have not taken the silver medals, as if adding a few more touches to that mystical story. But even in this legend there are a thousand more hidden scenario lines that don’t even need to be invented.
• Munich is a tragedy with political overtones. Terrorists shoot the Israeli team and change Olympic sports. Political overtones (but for some reason under the slogan “sport is beyond politics”), security – all these are perhaps the most important aspects of each subsequent Olympics.
• Munich is the starting point for world basketball. In 1972, the Americans lost for the first time. And a confrontation within the Cold War was born. USSR versus USA. The way basketball looks now is the aftermath of that very battle. The result of all this is the emergence of the “dream team” 20 years later, and the globalization of basketball. 3 seconds didn’t just turn the world upside down, they shook it up, but didn’t mix it right away.
• Munich gave birth to a real coaching confrontation. Gomelsky created that same team. But Kondrashin was able to win the Olympics with her. And then domestic basketball was actually divided into two camps. For the sake of fairness, Gomelsky won gold at the Games only in 1988. Putting an end to the basketball chapter called “Soviet vs. USA.”

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

• This victory practically formalized Sergei Belov legend status. Without this gold, his greatness was a little less bright. No matter how dominant a basketball player of his time he was, only victories make him great. And 20 points in the final against the invincible Americans is perhaps the main feat in Sergei Belov’s career.
• Alexander Belov- the author of the winning throw and the owner of an incurable disease. Only life itself could invent such a story. To become the hero of the main episode in the history of Olympic basketball and die at the age of 26.
• Ivan Edeshko. A point guard with a height of 195. This was years ahead of his time. And the not so fast, but tall playmaker appeared in the national team precisely on the initiative of Vladimir Kondrashin. Know-how from the early 70s. The Magic Johnson of his time! The result is the same pass. Another story.
• Modestas Paulauskas. One of the first Lithuanian legends. I almost escaped from the USSR. But he stayed and won the Olympics. Another story that deserves to be filmed.

• Vladimir Kondrashin. The one who was not afraid of bold experiments and prepared separately for the match with the Americans. He bet on Edeshko. He put two Georgians Sakandelidze and Korkia together in the final for the first time, raising the level of passion to an incredible level.

Photo: Still from the film “Moving Up”

This is the story of people. Those for whom basketball was the meaning of life, and for some just a job. The directors of Moving Up didn't choose the story. They mixed it all up and intertwined it with each other. Knitted costumes of Soviet athletes, and excellent scenery. A bit of party politics, which was an important part of “amateur sports” at the time. And incredible stories of people. Different nationalities, born in villages, cities, in different cultures and otherwise accepting the common flag of the USSR.

After watching the film, clumsily containing my delight, I wanted to do only one thing - dial Ivan Edeshko’s number and ask two questions. Ivan Ivanovich answered the call immediately.

- How accurately are the characters of the players of that team conveyed?
- Slightly exaggerated, but nothing was invented. That's pretty much how it was.

- Is the chronology of the final match of the Olympics an artistic move?
- What are you talking about?! We talked it over, discussed and debated so many times. The filmmakers wanted to convey the emotions and mood of that time as accurately as possible. Of course, basketball is shown differently. But the point is true. We won that match and almost lost ourselves. Sergei Belov was great. None of the Americans could stop him. All this is shown, and there is some justice in this. Of course, we didn’t score with such frills, but they explained it to me as a desire to show all the brightness of basketball. So if you don’t focus on all this acrobatics, then yes. The film is more documentary than fiction.

Now that the film is ready for premieres, the producers are engaged in serious promotion. And this is not just using the tools of the domestic film industry with billboards in the center of Moscow. This is truly a basketball story. The actors go to matches, together with Alzhan Zharmukhamedov and Ivan Edeshko they arranged an autograph session at a Euroleague match. And it was incredibly touching. Edeshko together with the actor who played Ivan Ivanovich. The film's actors have already played several exhibition matches. The pre-screening for film critics was held in parallel for the “basketball party.” And if harsh film critics cynically and coldly praised the film, then inexperienced viewers could hardly hold back their tears. Some because basketball deserves the big screen. And others - because of the awareness of the scale of the personalities of that feat. 3 seconds is not just an episode of the final match. This is the icing on the cake of great drama.

For a while, basketball became more than just the basis for a great movie. It has become part of something bigger than just a sport with the hashtag “best ball game.”

Ivan Edeshko made a perfect pass across the entire court, and Alexander Belov, jumping above the two Americans guarding him, received the ball and accurately placed it in the basket. 51:50 and our team has gold.

Alexander Belov (in red) receives the same transmission

Formula for success

1. The angle of departure of the ball at the moment of Edeshko’s pass is 40°. Stick to the 36-50° range: increasing or decreasing the angle forces you to apply more force.
2. The pass should require 70-75% of maximum force. If this indicator is higher, marriage will increase.
3. Edeshko’s passing range is 27 m 51 cm. To repeat it, train passes of 30–39 meters, then shorter ones will be easier.

Reception

Alexander Belov (height 200 cm) received the ball at a height of 305 cm. “Receiving any pass from a long distance is difficult, especially when there are two defenders nearby. It’s important to try to both jump and land in balance.”, says CSKA defender and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Anton Ponkrashov. The 10th and 14th numbers of the US team did not succeed, so in a second the first of them will fall on the floor, and the second will fly off the court, and Belov will score the ball without any interference.

How to pass across the court

1. “It’s difficult to make a pass like that from the spot. Therefore, you need, like Ivan Ivanovich, to make a slight acceleration and jump, and so that the leg opposite the hand to which you pass the ball is in front.”, advises Ponkrashov. This way you will increase the transmission power.
2. Passing the ball with two hands (from the chest or from behind the head) will be more difficult, so it is better to actually pass with one hand.
3. There is also a so-called baseball pass, which is given from a place: you make a swing, turning your body and bringing the ball behind your head, and then you throw it with your whole body like a javelin. This technique requires more physical strength and not everyone can do it.