The Dunk Heard Around the World

It was the year 2000 and it was the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The USA Men’s Olympic team was, how does one say this, stacked. The roster was as follows: Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Ray Allen, Vin Baker, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Tim Hardaway, Allan Houston, Jason Kidd, Antonio Mc Dyess, Alonzo Mourning, Gary Payton, and Steve Smith. With that team, how could they lose?

Both the Men’s and Women’s USA basketball teams took home the gold in Sydney winning eight consecutive games each and losing none. However, it was Carter’s ridiculous dunk over the head of 7′ 2″ and 260 lb Frédéric Weis that showed how dominating the men’s Team USA was during those Olympic Games. After all, their players were the best of the best. Carter’s amazing feat soon became known as the dunk heard around the world. It’s been fifteen years, but here it is.

Fortunately, this video features two Frenchmen commentating. After Carter steals the ball he charges right at Weis and the Frenchmen get to the edge of their seats and they start raising their voices; they seemed to know what was coming next. After the dunk, which only took one and a half seconds, one of the Frenchmen scream, “He climbed over the shoulders of Frédéric Weis!!” The other exclaims, “He went right over him!!” Both commentators loved it–even at the Olympics, it’s rare to see a man 6′ 6″ leap over a 7′ tall man.

My favorite reaction is Weis’, he probably thought Carter would try to run through him. After the dunk he’s stunned, and how couldn’t he be, after having just felt Carter’s gold Nike Shox BB4 whiz past his ear. I also love the reaction Kevin Garnett had to the dunk–he seemed thoroughly astonished and so effing excited. There are some really great and touching photos of Garnett and Carter when they receive their gold medals.

With a final score of 106-94, Team USA went 8-0 in that summer’s Olympic Games. Interestingly, in a promotional poster for that year’s Games, Vince Carter is photographed wearing And1 Tai Chi and not the Nike Shox BB4 that he, and much of Team USA, wore during the Games.

Here are some photos from other games during the 2000 Sydney Olympics in which Carter rocked the Nike Shox BB4.

If you want to see more of Carter’s dunks, check this out. Thoughts on this historic dunk from 2000? Share them below.