Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games
David Clay Large
Language: English
Pages: 396
ISBN: 0742567397
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Set against the backdrop of the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s, this compelling book provides the first comprehensive history of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, notorious for the abduction of Israeli Olympians by Palestinian terrorists and the hostages’ tragic deaths after a botched rescue mission by the German police. Drawing on a wealth of newly available sources from the time, eminent historian David Clay Large explores the 1972 festival in all its ramifications. He interweaves the political drama surrounding the Games with the athletic spectacle in the arena of play, itself hardly free of controversy. Writing with flair and an eye for telling detail, Large brings to life the stories of the indelible characters who epitomized the Games. Key figures range from the city itself, the visionaries who brought the Games to Munich against all odds, and of course to the athletes themselves, obscure and famous alike. With the Olympic movement in constant danger of terrorist disruption, and with the fortieth anniversary of the 1972 tragedy upon us in 2012, the Munich story is more timely than ever.
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truly spectacular fashion. “Nothing,” added the spokesman, “could have shocked the world more—not a bomb in the White House, Mao’s death, or an earthquake in Paris.” George Habash himself described the Munich operation as “a triumph for Palestine,” adding, “Now the war begins in earnest.” It was just such a prospect of a new violent conflict in the Middle East that worried the U.S. government. Washington, albeit not nearly as much as Bonn, was caught in a bind by the Olympic tragedy. On the one
much for an American sweep. After seeing their teammate go down, Collett and Matthews charged into the lead. In the final lap, Matthews pushed ahead of Collett, surprising himself as much as his American rival. Still feeling strong in the last straightaway, Matthews managed to hold off a surging Collett to win by four meters. In third place was Julius Sang, a Kenyan (and the first Black African to medal in the 400). As soon as they finished the race, Matthews and Collett rushed over to Smith,
that Bavarian security officials had acted responsibly throughout the ordeal, Bonn knew that, among other inadequacies, the FRG’s lack of a trained counterterrorism unit had critically hampered the response in Munich. As early as September 10, 1972, Interior Minister Genscher disclosed that he had instructed Bonn’s Federal Criminal Office to prepare for the creation of a special antiterror unit that would be at the disposal of West Germany’s individual states. A little later, Genscher tasked
determined to strike out against the “holocaust” of abortion by bombing a park full of people, to wreck—or at least cast an ugly pall over—the Modern Olympics’ one hundredth anniversary party in Atlanta. On the eve of the 2004 Athens Games, a former U.S. State Department security expert who had compiled a data base on terrorism pointed out that there had been “more than 170 terrorist events involving athletes or athletic events since the 1972 Munich Olympics.” And he added, “To protect an event
The biggest and most expensive problem turned out to be the emblematic glass roof, whose swooping tent-like surface was to cover part of the main stadium along with adjacent facilities such as the swimming hall and indoor sports center. The final design and construction work for this ambitious project was subcontracted by Behnisch to a noted industrial designer, Frei Otto, whose firm had recently built a transparent glass roof for the German Pavilion at the Montreal World’s Fair. Over five years
