1972 Olympics memorable for wrong reason

SECURITY at the London Olympics was very tight and in the weeks leading up to the Games, we heard stories of missiles and other weapons being placed on top of people’s houses to guard the approach to the Olympic Arena and Olympic Village. A big change from 40 years ago in Munich, the scene of the greatest ever attack on athletes and the Olympic ideals. Then Israeli athletes were taken hostage in the Olympic village and subsequently killed.

The attackers – eight armed Palestinians –  had succeeded in gaining access to the village when, disguised as athletes, they climbed the fence around it in the early hours of the morning. That was the only security around the 10,000 athletes staying there. It was even said that some other athletes helped them climb because they thought they were trying to get back into the village after a night out. Once inside, they used stolen keys to enter the block of apartments used by the Israeli athletes.

They gathered nine athletes into one apartment as hostages and shot two others who attempted to fight them. Three athletes succeeded in escaping by jumping from balconies and seven others managed to hide and later fled from the building.

When the terrorists presented their demands, they wanted the release of over 200 prisoners from Israeli prisons together with Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhoff founders of the West German Red Army Faction. They also demanded that they and their hostages be flown to Cairo. Israel refused to negotiate saying it was their policy never to negotiate with terrorists but the German authorities kept talking. Rather than German efficiency, what followed was a comedy of errors. Amazingly, the Games continued while the drama unfolded until mounting international pressure caused them to be adjourned.

A squad of armed police dressed in tracksuits were sent to the village in a rescue attempt. They took up their positions and awaited orders. At the same time, camera crews filmed them, the pictures were broadcast on television and the kidnappers could see what was going on. They threatened to kill two hostages unless the police left. Negotiations by a delegation from the Arab League were ignored.

Eventually, towards nightfall, police cleared a way through the village. The terrorists and hostages were bussed to a field where helicopters took them to a local military airport. It was only when they were going from the bus to the helicopters that the German authorities realised how many terrorists were involved. Again at the airport, there was confusion. Armed police who were posing as airplane crew had left the plane when the hostages arrived. Snipers on nearby roofs opened fire. The terrorists shot the hostages in each of the helicopters and then tossed a grenade into one of them. A policeman, most of the terrorists and all the hostages were killed. The bodies of the terrorists were flown to Libya where they were given military funerals. The surviving terrorists were jailed but were released within weeks in response to the hijacking of a Lufthansa passenger jet.

That attack on the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic village, one of the blackest days in Olympic history, lasted less than 24 hours and started on the morning of September 5, 1972, 40 years ago this week.