MJ stood up in the original Olympic brand protest.

This year’s delayed Olympics in Tokyo is almost 30 years after the 1992 Games in Barcelona, when NBA players were allowed to compete and Nike and Reebok were at war over how much money they could spend on brand recognition.

Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were on the first Dream Team coached by Chuck Daly, who said it was like traveling with Elvis Presley and the Beatles to Spain, where Jordan was also joined by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and seven other pro stars. The only collegian on the team was Christian Laettner who had just led Duke to a second NCAA title.

Nike did not hold the rights to much of anything with the Olympics at the time beyond most of the Dream Teamers and tried to plaster its name and logo all over Spain and Europe. However, a Spaniard named Juan Amigo Freitas purchased a trademark from a Barcelona sock manufacturer that had the rights to a statue of Greek goddess Athena Nike, which made the burgeoning shoe and apparel giant take down most of its signage.

Reebok spent more than $4 million dollars to provide most of the Olympic athletes with warm ups and said they had to wear them during medal ceremonies. Jordan was already the face of Nike and came up with a great idea on how to not promote Reebok in the name of his country.

After the Dream Team rolled to the gold medal, Jordan and Barkley showed up at the medal ceremony wearing their Reebok warm-ups. But when they marched up on the medal stand, the two Nike personalities back home both had American flags draped over their right shoulders, covering the Reebok logo.

MJ owed a lot to Nike, which was struggling when it signed him in 1984 for an outlandish $7 million rookie contract. And Michael was loyal to the company that made him his first million. “Everyone agreed we would not deface Reebok on the award uniform,” Jordan said. “The American flag cannot deface anything. And that’s what we all stand for.”

Cool move, Mike.

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