Munich Olympics The Black September

The powerful blast that shattered the Centennial Olympic Park in the early morning of September 5, 1972 in Munich will always be remembered as the most distressing episode in the history of sports. It is a tragedy that not only altogether changed the movement called Olympics, but also the sports which after the episode never remained a way of life on the international scene. The drama that followed the blast lasted for another 23 hours in the Olympic village and claimed the lives of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, a German police officer and five militants of the group called Black September, which was responsible for the massacre. It was for the first time that the violence overwhelmed a major international sports event. The Munich incident changed the mindset of all. Certainly, the major political differences had intruded on the field of play during the previous games. Like in 1956, Hungarian and Soviet water polo teams fought in Melbourne, Australia after the invasion of Hungary by the USSR. And, the black-gloved demonstration by Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the podium at the 1968 Games in Mexico City brought a lot of soul searching to sports.

Munich Massacre happened in the summer Olympics of 1972. Black September a Palestinian militant group took hostage of Israeli Olympic team and demanded the release and free passage of 234 Palestinians and non-Arabs that were held captive in Israeli jails, apart from the release of two German militants held by the German prison system. In a failed attempt to rescue, all the 11 hostages were killed and five of the eight militants were also killed in the shootout. Later on, after the hijack of Lufthansa Airlines, three militants were released by West Germany. It was the second week of Munich Games when the incident rocked the world and Germany, which was trying to overcome the Nazi Olympics of 1936. Prior to this episode the games were going in a very friendly manner and the approach to the security was relaxed. Perhaps one of the concerns, the Israeli athletes had in the Olympic, was the least presence of armed guards around the village where athletes used to move without even showing proper identification. On the morning of September 5, eight tracksuit-clad Black September members entered into the two apartments, which were used by Israeli team and in the initial hustle between the Black September members and Israeli team, the militants killed two members of Israeli team Moshe Weinberg, the wrestling coach and weightlifter Yossef Romano. The militants had nine live hostages whom they wanted to be traded for a free passage to Cairo along with their other demands.

As the intense negotiations were going on inside the apartments, the rest of the Olympic village behaved as everything is normal until the pressure really mounted on International Olympic Committee to stop the proceedings after 12 hours from the death of the first athlete. The Israeli government refused to deal with the militants, but West Germany continued its negotiations and offered to pay any amount for the safe release of athletes. The offer was rejected by them on the grounds that they dont care for money or their lives. West Germany, who didnt have special trained forces to deal with such situations made its first attempt with a small police team in sweat suits carrying machine guns. The police took position and waited for orders. In the meantime, the whole operation was broadcasted live on television which the militants too watched on the TV sets installed in the apartments and threatened to kill the hostages if the rescue operation was not immediately aborted, which the government did and ordered the police to leave the premises.

After intense negotiations, the militants demanded transportation to Cairo. At 10:10 pm, a bus carried the hostages and the kidnappers to two Helicopters that were going to carry them to Furstenfeldbruck a NATO air base. There on the airport, the officials prepared an armed assault on the militants. The operation failed and left nine hostages dead.Five Black September militants werealso killed in the ambush.The killing led to late-afternoon and evening events being suspended on that day and the mourning was held during the week. The closing ceremony was attended by only 2,000 out of 8,500 athletes. The IOC faced huge criticism for continuing the competition even after such a massacre. The Munich Olympics will be always remembered more as a Black September than a sporting event, where usually human spirit wins and not the force.

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