With the Cold War consuming the global politics of the 1980s, America collectively tried its best to remain at the top, and sports were no different. In the 1980 Winter Olympic hockey competition, the "miracle on ice" occurred, in which the American national team beat the Soviet national team 4-3, leading the U.S. to the gold medal. Of Miracles and Men does not tell the American side of the story, however. Instead, it examines the impact of this loss on the Soviet players and how different factors influenced their drive to the sport.