Michael Jordan’s shock statement before the 1992 Olympics

If the mythical demolition company of the Dream Team 1992 is engraved forever in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan did not wait to set foot in Barcelona to make known the substance of his thought. Before the competition, MJ had delivered a rather lunar interview in which he announced to the opponents the lightning that was going to fall on them. The worst ? No lies detected.

At the dawn of the 1992 Olympic Games, the United States had no room for error. Humiliated in 1988 in Seoul, where they had to settle for a bronze medal while the Soviet rival brought gold to Moscow, the Americans bring out the heavy artillery and decide to send professional players for the very first time . Thus was born the Dream Team, around Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson et al. In addition to Christian Laettner, then NCAA star, 11 NBA players are chosen. These 11 players will enter the Hall of Fame.

While Bird and Johnson are named co-captains, as a tribute to their respective glittering careers coming to an end, the team’s superstar is indeed called Michael Jordan. Just crowned with his 2nd league title after dominating the Blazers, His Airness approaches the festivities with maximum confidence.

Before the 1992 Olympics, Michael Jordan announces the massacre

A few weeks before the start of the competition, number 23 gives a river interview to Playboy. He mentions in particular the Olympiads to come, and his subject is one could not more cash, even if it shocks:

When you look at our talent and the teams we’re going to face, it’s a massacre. Never in life should matches be close. We taught them basketball. We have players who have the talent and the size. We are talking about the best current players, and a team that has the best ever assembled.

Who will beat us? The Japaneses ? The Chinese ? They have no chance of resisting against the athletic ability that we are going to have in this team.

Today, it is difficult if not impossible to imagine a player being so sure of himself before a tournament. But for MJ, no problem.

As everyone knows, the sequel totally vindicated Jordan and his arrogance, since the United States atomized the competition. The men of Chuck Daly, who did not take a single time-out of all the Olympic Games, have indeed won their matches by an astronomical average of 43.8 points. Mythical.

Neither doubt nor pity: at the height of his art in the early 1990s, Michael Jordan literally announced the butchery to come to the world before the Olympic Games. And, as everyone knows, His Airness was indeed right…