September 25, 2000, Vince Carter achieves the “dunk of the century”!

It was on September 25, 2000, during a group match at the Sydney Olympic Games, that Vince Carter made dunk history by successfully passing over Fred Weis, although he was perched at 2m18.

Following a very risky blind pass from Yann Bonato, Vince Carter recovered the ball and flew over Fred Weis to crush a legendary dunk. An action that would have broken social networks if it took place today. The entire Sydney Superdome stands speechless, while the Raptors guard exults over an excited Kevin Garnett. Vince Carter also fails to land a nice hook on his teammate.

Then called “dunk of death” or “dunk of the century”, this dunk remains considered one of (if not the) greatest in history due to its Olympic context and especially due to its visual: the image is just unreal, the poster is one of the most displayed in teenagers’ rooms and since then we have regularly seen attempts at remakes, mainly in high schools and universities. But no one has managed to completely pass over a pivot of 7 feet or more. Even Vince Carter could never recreate this moment…

“Vince Carter deserves to make history. Unfortunately for me, I’m on the video »

“ In training, I tried again and again, and I never succeeded. I can never do the same again » confided the young retiree a few years ago. “ At the time, I was in a position to make the interception, and then I do one, then two dribbles, and that’s it… I look at what Fred Weis is going to do, and I tell myself that if I jump, he won’t be able to stop me. Then I put my hand on his shoulder. »

For the record, the United States will win in this match (106-94) and will be Olympic champions a few days later, against these same French (85-75).

Already impressive at the Slam Dunk Contest in February 2000, this dunk allowed Vince Carter to enter the ranks of the greatest dunkers in history with Julius Erving, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan.

As for Fred Weis, to whom this dunk stuck for the rest of his career, he suggested to Vince Carter that he repeat this dunk during the 2000 All-Star Game. Carter deserves to make history. Unfortunately for me, I’m on the video. That day I learned that people could fly » confided the Frenchman. “ I do not remember anything. I think I closed my eyes. What is certain is that I did not move. »