OLYMPIC MOMENTS:WHEN THE USA basketball team arrived in Athens in 2004, they were expected to uphold and enhance the most absurdly tilted record in the history of the Olympics. The United States overall record in the modern Olympics stood at 109-2.

That debit number represents two of the famous Olympic stories. The 1972 basketball final between the USA and Russia has become one of the most enduring sporting metaphors for the Cold War and 40 years on, the last few seconds of that game remain hotly contested.

Most people have seen the grainy footage of the controversial last three seconds, which took place in Munich long after midnight in order to accommodate American TV audiences. The USA led 50-49 thanks to two free throws made by Doug Collins. The Russians in-bounded the ball and the buzzer sounded for full time but even as the Americans began to celebrate, a certain R William Jones implicated himself in sporting history.

As Secretary General of the International Amateur Basketball Federation, he insisted that the clock be reset to three seconds, believing two seconds had been mistakenly shaved off the clock when the Russian coach had called for a time out.

It later transpired that Mr Jones, a Great Britain representative, had no authority to make this call. But in the bedlam, the game was restarted.

Russia’s Ivan Edeshko threw a Hail Mary pass the length of the court to Sasha Belov, Russia’s imposing 7ft star. The 20-year-old managed to catch the ball, turn and fire a close range shot to secure a miracle victory.

The Americans were incandescent with rage. They filed an appeal which was duly rejected. The American team declined their silver medals which sit in a vault in Switzerland 40 years on. The animosity lingered and, in a sad footnote, Belov, the gangly star of that infamous few seconds, was found dead in cloudy circumstances just six years later.

That defeat was regarded as a freak aberration, but the fact that the score was so narrow suggested that the United States could not take their dominance in the sport for granted.

By 1988, their tradition of sending the best of their college players to the Olympics had caught up with them.

The standard of the game was improving around the world. Russia and America met again for the first time since that 1972 fiasco but this time, there was no doubt. The East was technically and physically superior. The Americans finished third, behind the Soviets and a glitteringly talented Yugoslav side.

That humiliation cleared the way for the selection of NBA players and for perhaps the most feted team in the history of Olympic sport – the Dream Team starring Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Assembling this team was a declaration that the Americans would never lose an Olympic basketball game again.

By 2004, however, the NBA had changed. American teams had begun to struggle at the world championships. Michael Jordan had finished up in 2002 as a 40-year-old shadow of his invincible self. His departure left a black hole.

The NBA lacked an identifiable star and the cast of young millionaires who showed up in Athens were all auditioning for that role. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade would later find themselves united in both the uniforms of the Miami Heat and the lyrics of Jay-Z, but at this stage, neither man had won an NBA title. Carmelo Anthony was talented but limitlessly hyped.

Individually, the three young men possessed extraordinary ability, but all were accustomed to having teams revolve around them. At least Larry Brown, the veteran coach, had experience in Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson.

Before the tournament began, there was a general expectation that when it came to it, the Americans would win. If there was an underlying fear that NBA games had abandoned the team ethos in favour of a series of one-on-one match-ups which suited the athletic prowess and basketball gifts of the players, it was exposed here.

They might have been the most marquee names around the world but when they were confronted with the superior team ethos of other countries, they were startled.

What followed was a fortnight of humiliation. First Puerto Rico inflicted a 92-73 defeat, smashing the belief that a cast of NBA stars simply could not and would not be beaten. A further defeat by Lithuania followed.

The United States just about scraped into the quarter-final, where they posted their first significant win against Spain. But already, they had become a parody of the Dream Team and were quickly and inevitably dubbed the Nightmare Team.

The worst came to pass against Argentina in the semi-final. The South Americans were led by Manu Ginobli, an excellent career player with the San Antonio Spurs but never mentioned in the same breath as LeBron James. But Argentina dazzled the Americans with old-school fundamentals which Larry Brown would have appreciated in any other game.

They defended better, they made simple passes, they chose simple shots and they bamboozled the Americans with a series of zone defences which they never encounter in the NBA. In short, they beat the United States with a style of basketball which had fallen out of fashion there. The final score was 89-81.

“We fought as hard as we could – we couldn’t get it done for whatever reason. They were just a better team than us,” admitted Iverson afterwards.

In truth, it should never have happened. Several of the NBA’s leading lights declined to make themselves available for selection and the team in Athens smacked of a marketing device to showcase the bright new things.

They left smarting and humiliated. Four years later, the US selected a much deeper squad and went through the tournament undefeated. Remarkably, their gold medal game in Beijing represented a first title for an American international basketball team in eight years.

This year, they will arrive in London as a celebrity carnival within the big carnival. LeBron James, Anthony and Wade are all back and have eight years of experience to call upon since their chastening fortnight in Athens.

James has become one of the richest and most recognisable athletes on the planet and there is every chance that Kevin Durant will become one of the most commanding figures of these Olympics.

The USA will probably take gold in London but they lost the lustre of being untouchable during that humbling fortnight in Athens.