Kim Jong Il Bowls a 300

North Korea becomes the first Asian team to advance to the quarterfinals after beating Italy 1-0 in the first round. The team’s run ends when Portugal wins 5-3 in what Time magazine calls “one of the most extraordinary games of soccer ever.”

Ri Ho Jun sets an Olympic record in small-diameter rifle-shooting and brings home his country’s first-ever gold medal.

The North Korean military allegedly orders members of the International Tae Kwon Do Federation to assassinate South Korean President Chun Doo-Hwan. An attempt to carry out this order is foiled in Canada when Chun visits.

After the International Olympic Committee refuses North Korea’s proposal to co-host the 1988 games, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea sits out the competition. North Korea also carries out terrorist attacks on the South in 1986 and 1987 in order to undermine the country’s credibility as an Olympic host.

With more than 150,000 seats, the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang becomes a favorite site for mass-games celebrations. In the fall of 2013, Kim Jong Un orders a renovation to honor the “undying feats” of his grandfather and father in promoting North Korean sports.

The new 40-lane bowling alley is described as a “patriotic donation” from a Korean businesswoman living in Japan. Later, North Korean media will report that Kim Jong Il has bowled a perfect game at Gold Lane.

In his first round of golf ever, Kim Jong Il sinks eleven holes-in-one at the 7,700-yard, 18-hole Pyongyang Golf Club. North Korean media reports a score of 34, which would be a world record.

The seven-foot-nine-inch North Korean center, Ri Myong Hun, flies to Canada to meet with NBA coaches. He would be the tallest player in NBA history, but the State Department blocks his signing; by the time it changes its mind, North Korea refuses to let Ri play in the United States.

Kim Jong Un begins boarding school near Bern, Switzerland, under an assumed name. Classmates say he spends hours making detailed drawings of Michael Jordan and wears Nike Air Jordans.

In the 2000 Summer Games, athletes from both countries march side by side in the Opening Ceremonies behind the Korean Unification flag. The last-minute deal nearly falls apart because North Korea doesn’t have enough athletes.

Madeleine Albright, the first senior American official to visit North Korea, gives Kim a basketball signed by Michael Jordan. The basketball is now held in the North Korean “Museum of International Understanding.”

Optimistic, perhaps, because of the basketball, the North Korean government invites Michael Jordan to visit the country to meet Kim Jong Il. Jordan declines the invitation.

Mass games are held to commemorate the birthday of Kim Il Sung. The celebration includes massive dance and gymnastics performances, six days a week for two straight months.

North Korean fans storm a Pyongyang field after a referee denies the national team a penalty in a World Cup qualifier. Riot police are called in, and the team loses 2-0. The next qualifying match is not open to the public.

Before the team’s opening World Cup match against Brazil—North Korea’s first Cup appearance in more than 40 years—four athletes try to bolt. After the team loses, players are “invited” to a public shaming at North Korea’s People’s Palace of Culture.

Five players on the North Korean women’s World Cup team fail a drug test—the result, North Korean officials explain, of steroids that were mistakenly ingested after lightning struck the athletes during training. The lightning strike is also offered as a reason for the team’s 2-0 loss to the United States.

The North Korean women’s soccer team walks off the field after the South Korean flag is mistakenly displayed before the match. The International Olympic Committee claims the mix-up was the result of human error and has no political implications.

Michael Jordan’s former teammate—another favorite of Kim Jong Un—makes his first trip to North Korea. He is sponsored by Vice Media and accompanied by several players from the Harlem Globetrotters.

In an effort to boost North Korea’s tourism industry, the government builds ski slopes at Masik Pass with Canadian and European ski equipment—which may violate U.N. sanctions on trading luxury goods with the communist regime. Kim Jong Un is photographed on the ski lift.

Rodman brings six former NBA players to North Korea to play an exhibition game in honor of Kim Jong Un’s thirty-first birthday. Rodman also drunkenly shouts down a CNN anchor and accompanies Kim Jong Un on a ski trip to Masik Pass.