# What international upsets are comparable to the 1980 Miracle on Ice?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-international-upsets-are-comparable-to-the-1980-miracle-on-ice/965602>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [June 2, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-international-upsets-are-comparable-to-the-1980-miracle-on-ice/965602 "2022-06-02T22:41:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-international-upsets-are-comparable-to-the-1980-miracle-on-ice/965602/21 "2022-06-05T23:55:41Z")

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Hmmm, that’s a solid point about goalies.

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**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-international-upsets-are-comparable-to-the-1980-miracle-on-ice/965602/22 "2022-06-25T18:23:12Z")

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> [@EllisDee](#):
>
> (Google says it was a 3-game series that did go to game 3, but the Russians won the final game 6-0.)

Just to clarify, it was a three game series. It was not a best of three series. Regardless of the outcome of the first two games, they were playing the third.

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**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-international-upsets-are-comparable-to-the-1980-miracle-on-ice/965602/23 "2022-07-08T21:01:07Z")

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A late addition: Rulon Gardner’s defeat of Aleksandr Karelin. It was the gold medal match of heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling at the Sydney Olympics.

Karelin was easily the most dominant in his sport for a long time - perhaps ever. He was a lock to win his 4th consecutive Olympic gold, having not lost a match for 13 years and not given up a single point in any match for the previous 6 years. Gardner had clearly overachieved by qualifying for the finals.

The match can be called dull, as the final score (1 - 0) suggests - defense was clearly Gardner’s principal strength. But it was an upset of epic proportions.

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