In one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of college players, defeats the four-time defending gold-medal winning Soviet team at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York.

The United States team’s 4–3 win over the veteran and professional Soviet team, which came into the 1980 Games having won four consecutive Olympic gold medals, became known as the “Miracle on Ice” in US culture.

The U.S. ice hockey team defeated the powerful Soviets, the dominant team in international hockey over the previous decade and Olympic champions since 1964, en route to winning the gold medal.

In 1980, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In total, 65 nations refused to participate in the games, whereas 80 countries sent athletes to compete.

The Malaysian national football team did not compete at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games because the Malaysian government chose to boycott the Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. James Wong scored five goals, making Malaysia’s strikeforce the most lethal during the campaign.

Soviet Union

Heiden

Michelle Kwan, an Olympic medalist in 1998 and 2002, a five-time world champion, and a nine-time U.S. champion, is a figure skating legend and the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history.

Associate Editor, Encyclopædia Britannica. Apolo Anton Ohno, (born May 22, 1982, Seattle, Washington, U.S.), American short-track speed skater who was the most-decorated American athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics.

Bonnie Kathleen Blair (born March 18, 1964) is a retired American speed skater. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, winning five gold medals and one bronze medal.

Bonnie Blair

Viktor Ahn of Russia, formerly of South Korea with his birth name of Ahn Hyun-soo, is the most decorated short-tracker in Olympics, having won eight medals including six gold medals, and two bronze. China’s Wang Meng and South Korean Chun Lee-Kyung has won four gold medals each.

Dutch

adjective. attributive. Denoting or relating to a race, especially in speed skating or motorsports, which is held on a short track. ‘possibly the greatest short-track speed skater in this country’s history’

Short track speed skaters on ice go about 31mph (50kph) but can reach speeds in excess of 35 mph (56kph). The fastest ice speed skater reached 56.5mph (91kph), whereas the fastest downhill inline skater reached 77mph (124 kph).

NHL players can reach speeds in excess of 20 miles (32 km) per hour on the ice. Some speed skaters have been clocked at over 30 miles (48 km) per hour! What makes one player faster than another?

Sandro Bovo

Fastest Skaters in NHL History

1. Paul Coffey. Paul Coffey’s speed as a skater got a ringing endorsement from another Hall of Famer’s father.
2. Connor McDavid. Connor McDavid won the NHL Fastest Skater Competition three times in a row.
3. Bobby Orr.
4. Pavel Bure.
5. Maurice Richard.
6. Scott Niedermayer.
7. Sergei Fedorov.
8. Dylan Larkin.

Barzal

Gretzky is widely regarded as the greatest player in NHL history and holds nearly every possible offensive record. Lemieux has the second highest points-per-game rate in history and appeared in less than 1,000 games but remains one of the best to ever play.