1972 München Summer Games

Prior to the 1972 Olympics, the major controversy concerned the Rhodesian Olympic team. At its [71st Session] in 1971, the IOC ruled that Rhodesian athletes could compete, but only using British uniforms, the Union Jack as the flag, and with the British anthem. But shortly before the 1972 Munich Olympics, the African nations threatened a mass boycott if Rhodesia, which was still white-controlled, was allowed to compete. Two days before the Opening Ceremony, the IOC voted (36-31 with three abstentions) to withdraw the invitation to Rhodesia for the 1972 Olympic Games. But when the Games opened the incident seemed lost in the beauty of the Olympics.

The first eleven days of the 1972 Olympics were perhaps the most beautiful celebrations of Olympia ever seen. But on the morning of 5 September, the Games were interrupted when eight Arab terrorists, representing the militant Black September group, entered the Olympic Village and took hostage eleven members of the Israel Olympic team. While the world watched on television and waited, the terrorists occupied the building of Connollystraße 31, and demanded freedom for several Arabs held in Israel prisons. The Israel government refused this as a day of tense negotiations ensued.

Late in the evening of 5 September, the terrorists took their hostages to Fürstenfeldbruck, an Army air base near Munich. There, in a few quick minutes of fighting as the Germans tried to save them, all the Israelis were murdered by a bomb the terrorists had set in the helicopter which was to take them to freedom. Several of the terrorists were killed, but most escaped. A few were later captured, and a few were killed by Israeli hit squads, but none ever came to trial. The American public watched the tragedy via ABC Television and saw host [Jim McKay] detail the events for most of the day. After the tragedy at Fürstenfeldbruck he summed up the incident in just a few sad words, "They're all gone."

There were some marvelous athletic performances at the 1972 Olympics, notably [Mark Spitz] winning seven gold medals, and setting seven world records, but they seemed of little consequence. The Games were halted for one day as a memorial service was held for the Israelis. At the memorial, IOC President [Avery Brundage] angered many when he compared the Israeli murders to the Rhodesian incident, and made one of his most famous comments when he declared, "The Games must go on." The Olympic Games did go on, but they would never again be the same.