As far as UNC is concerned, a lot of the sporting attention is currently been paid to the baseball team, and their run in the men’s College World Series. Things there started decently enough, as they downed Ole Miss on Friday and will take on West Virginia later today.
However as far as the world’s sporting attention is concerned, a lot of it is being paid to the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off on Thursday and will be played across the US, Canada, and Mexico over the next month and change. If you
somehow live under a rock, the World Cup is the tournament for international teams in soccer, and the winners are crowned world champions.
With the World Cup beginning, it’s hard me thinking about international play in sports in general. It also led me to consider UNC athletes in international events. Carolina has had a ton of great athletes come through the school over the years, in a wide variety of sports. Plenty of Tar Heels have gone on to make noise representing their country at World Cups, Olympics, and other events over the years.
With that in mind, for today’s question of the day, I just want to know: what are your favorite instances of a Tar Heel competing on the international level of sports?
For me, I’m heading to the Olympics and specifically the basketball court. That prompt may lead you to think that I’m going with Michael Jordan and his participation with the “Dream Team” at the 1992 summer games in Barcelona. However, my personal favorite moment came a few years after that.
In the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Vince Carter was selected for Team USA for the men’s basketball tournament. While he was a Hall of Fame player overall, Carter was most known for this athleticism and his dunking ability. During the group stage portion of the tournament in a game against France, Carter showed that asset off. Having come up with a loose ball, Carter took off and fully jumped over and dunked on France’s 7-2 center Frédéric Weis.
In France, Carter’s monster slam got the nickname “Le Dunk de la Mort” or “The Dunk of Death” in English. While the dunk didn’t come in a crucial game in the tournament — although the US did later go on to play and beat France again in the Gold Medal Game — it still remains one of my favorite Olympic memories and one of the most insane athletic feats I’ve ever seen.
I would also be remiss to not give a shoutout to the plethora of Tar Heels’ women’s soccer players who’ve gone on to play for the US Women’s National Team. So many former UNC players have played crucial roles for the USWNT in their many World Cup and Olympic titles.
Those are my answers but what about you? What are you favorite memories of Tar Heels competing on the international stage?
