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CBS flew in footage from Rome to New York, where relatively unknown announcer Jim McKay did voice-over. The dream matchup was Rafer Johnson, the world-record holder in the Decathlon, and his UCLA teammate and training partner, C.K. Yang. For two days -- some events being delayed by rain -- they were one-two by far. It gave CBS a story line -- the first one in a long line of Olympic up-close-and-personals. The competition came down to the final event, the 1,500-meter run. Yang was better in the event, but Johnson was ahead in points and needed to lose by only less than 10 seconds to get the gold medal, which he did, running his fastest 1,500 meters ever. At the end, he stumbled forward and put his head on Yang's shoulder -- a win-win-win for Johnson, Yang and CBS.
May. 23, 2012
