from E.M. Swift of Sports Illustrated,

For SI's 60th anniversary, we asked readers to vote on the most iconic cover in the magazine's history. The winner was the March 3, 1980 "Miracle on Ice" cover, which featured the U.S. hockey team's joyous celebration after its improbable victory over the Soviet Union at Lake Placid. Below is the cover story from that issue.

For millions of people, their single, lasting image of the Lake Placid Games will be the infectious joy displayed by the U.S. hockey team following its 4-3 win over the Soviet Union last Friday night. It was an Olympian moment, the kind the creators of the Games must have had in mind, one that said: Here is something that is bigger than any of you. It was bizarre, it was beautiful. Upflung sticks slowly cartwheeled into the rafters. The American players--in pairs rather than in one great glop--hugged and danced and rolled on one another (see cover).

The Soviet players, slightly in awe, it seemed, of the spectacle of their defeat, stood in a huddle near their blue line, arms propped on their sticks, and waited for the ceremonial postgame handshakes with no apparent impatience. There was no head-hanging. This was bigger, even, than the Russians.

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