At 4.10am on the 5th September 1972, Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic Village in Munich and raided the Israeli team headquarters at 31 Conollystrasse. The terrorists murdered wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg (33) and weightlifter Yosef Romano (32) as they attempted to escape and took another nine Israelis hostage, demanding the release of 236 political prisoners.
A worldwide television audience watched in horror and a crowd of around 80,000 onlookers built up around the scene as the drama unfolded over the next 21 hours. It culminated in a shootout at Fürstenfeldbruck military air base. All nine Israeli hostages, a German policeman and five of the eight Black September guerrillas were killed.
The Olympic truce had been brutally violated and serious questions were raised about the handling of the crisis by the Munich police.
Games Resume
Incredibly, as the tense stand-off between terrorists and police was played out in front of television viewers, the Games were allowed to carry on. The crisis had raged for six hours when the Olympics resumed with canoe and kayak heats. An hour later International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage announced: "The Games must go on."
It was not until 3.51pm, more than 11 hours into the crisis and after the Egyptian basketball team had refused to play their match against the Philippines, that the Games were eventually suspended.
Meanwhile, the police and German government bungled attempts to rescue the hostages. A bid to storm the building was abandoned when it became clear the terrorists could follow what was happening on television.
Mission Aborted
When the terrorists requested a jet to fly them out of Germany, a plan was hatched to lay on a decoy plane filled with police. But just seconds before two helicopters containing the terrorists and their hostages landed at Fuerstenfelbruck airport, police aborted the mission, claiming they were not trained for the task.
Only five police snipers were positioned at the airport and when they opened fire on the terrorists, German police officer Anton Fliegerbauer was killed by a stray bullet. Armoured police cars called in late as reinforcements were caught in traffic as crowds clogged the roads in an effort to see the drama.
The terrorists killed the athletes by throwing a grenade into one helicopter and firing a round of bullets into the other. The victims were wrestlers Mark Slavin (18) and Eliezaar Halfen (24), wrestling referee Yosef Gottfreund (40), weightlifters David Berger (28) and Ze'ev Friedman (28), weightlifting coach Yaakov Springer (50), shooting coach Kehat Schur (53), fencing referee Andre Spitzer (27) and athletics coach Amitzur Shapira (40).
Cruel Twist
In a final, cruel twist, government spokesman Conrad Ahlers claimed the operation had been a success and this message was relayed to the world by the media. Hours later the disastrous truth emerged.
Five of the Palestinian gunmen were killed and three captured, but the survivors spent just 53 days in German custody and were never tried. On 29 October, 1972, a Palestinian commando hijacked a Lufthansa jet, which had taken off in Beirut, and demanded the release of the captured guerrillas. The German authorities caved in quickly and the terrorists were handed over to Libya in exchange for the freedom of the hostages.
Israeli assassination squads hunted down and killed two of the surviving Munich terrorists, but the third, Jamal Al Gashey, is alive and in hiding in Africa after surviving numerous attempts on his life.
As for the Munich Games, they were suspended and a memorial service was held in the main stadium. In defiance of the terrorists, the IOC ordered the competitions to resume after a pause of 34 hours.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
World Records Achieved at the Olympics
The high altitude of Mexico City, which is 2,240 metres above sea level, made the 1968 Olympics difficult for athletes in the endurance events. Yet the altitude, which meant the air contained 30 per cent less oxygen than at sea level, was an advantage in events that needed a brief but intense effort. As a result, a host of sprinting and jumping world records fell.
Other factors may have had a bearing too. The use of a synthetic material on the athletics track was a first, and, while events were timed both manually and electronically, for the first time the electronic time was the official one. Certainly, many of the records stood the test of time.
American Bob Beamon shattered the long jump world record by 55 centimetres with a leap of 8.90 metres and almost 23 years went by before Mike Powell bettered it. The USA 4x400m relay team of Lee Evans, Larry James, Ron Freeman and Vince Matthews cut 3.44 seconds off the world record with two minutes 56.16secs and it stood for almost 24 years until another USA team improved on it by 0.42secs at the Barcelona Olympics.
Americans Dominant
In the individual 400m, Evans ran 43.86secs - a world record for almost 20 years, Tommie Smith became the first man to break 20secs in the 200m (19.83secs) and Jim Hines, another American, set a 100m world record of 9.95secs that stood for almost 15 years.
The triple jump world record fell five times during the Mexico City Games, with Soviet Viktor Saneyev's 17.39m coming out on top. It was 36cm better than the pre-Games world record of Poland's Józef Schmidt. Brit David Hemery broke the 400m hurdles world record (48.1secs) and the 4x100m relay world record, broken by Jamaica in the heats, fell to the USA team of Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith, Charlie Greene and Melvin Pender (38.2secs).
A glut of women's world records fell too. American Wyomia Tyus took the 100m (11.08secs), Poland's Irena Szewinska the 200m (22.5secs), Romania's Viorica Viscopoleanu the long jump (6.82m) and the 4x100m relay world record fell to the USA's Margaret Bailes, Mildrette Netter, Barbara Ferrell and Tyus (42.8secs).
Seven for Spitz
At the Munich Olympics four years later, Mark Spitz made a one-man assault on the record books. He broke seven world records on his way to the same number of gold medals - all within the space of eight days.
The 200m butterfly (2:00.70), 200m freestyle (1:52.78), 100m butterfly (54.27secs) and 100m freestyle (51.22secs) records all fell to Spitz. In the relays, David Edgar, John Murphy, Jerry Heidenreich and Spitz took the 4x100m freestyle record (3:26.42), John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Steve Genter and Spitz the 4x200m freestyle record (7:35.78), and Mike Stamm, Thomas Bruce, Heidenreich and Spitz, who swam the butterfly leg, the medley relay record (3:48.16).
One of the most impressive world records of recent times was set by American sprinter Michael Johnson in the 200m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Johnson had clocked 19.66secs at the US Olympic trials to shave six hundreds of a second off the 17-year-old world record set by Italian Pietro Mennea at altitude in Mexico City. In the Olympic final he ran a phenomenal 19.32secs to defeat Namibia's Frank Fredericks by four metres. The record still stands 12 years on.
Other factors may have had a bearing too. The use of a synthetic material on the athletics track was a first, and, while events were timed both manually and electronically, for the first time the electronic time was the official one. Certainly, many of the records stood the test of time.
American Bob Beamon shattered the long jump world record by 55 centimetres with a leap of 8.90 metres and almost 23 years went by before Mike Powell bettered it. The USA 4x400m relay team of Lee Evans, Larry James, Ron Freeman and Vince Matthews cut 3.44 seconds off the world record with two minutes 56.16secs and it stood for almost 24 years until another USA team improved on it by 0.42secs at the Barcelona Olympics.
Americans Dominant
In the individual 400m, Evans ran 43.86secs - a world record for almost 20 years, Tommie Smith became the first man to break 20secs in the 200m (19.83secs) and Jim Hines, another American, set a 100m world record of 9.95secs that stood for almost 15 years.
The triple jump world record fell five times during the Mexico City Games, with Soviet Viktor Saneyev's 17.39m coming out on top. It was 36cm better than the pre-Games world record of Poland's Józef Schmidt. Brit David Hemery broke the 400m hurdles world record (48.1secs) and the 4x100m relay world record, broken by Jamaica in the heats, fell to the USA team of Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith, Charlie Greene and Melvin Pender (38.2secs).
A glut of women's world records fell too. American Wyomia Tyus took the 100m (11.08secs), Poland's Irena Szewinska the 200m (22.5secs), Romania's Viorica Viscopoleanu the long jump (6.82m) and the 4x100m relay world record fell to the USA's Margaret Bailes, Mildrette Netter, Barbara Ferrell and Tyus (42.8secs).
Seven for Spitz
At the Munich Olympics four years later, Mark Spitz made a one-man assault on the record books. He broke seven world records on his way to the same number of gold medals - all within the space of eight days.
The 200m butterfly (2:00.70), 200m freestyle (1:52.78), 100m butterfly (54.27secs) and 100m freestyle (51.22secs) records all fell to Spitz. In the relays, David Edgar, John Murphy, Jerry Heidenreich and Spitz took the 4x100m freestyle record (3:26.42), John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Steve Genter and Spitz the 4x200m freestyle record (7:35.78), and Mike Stamm, Thomas Bruce, Heidenreich and Spitz, who swam the butterfly leg, the medley relay record (3:48.16).
One of the most impressive world records of recent times was set by American sprinter Michael Johnson in the 200m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Johnson had clocked 19.66secs at the US Olympic trials to shave six hundreds of a second off the 17-year-old world record set by Italian Pietro Mennea at altitude in Mexico City. In the Olympic final he ran a phenomenal 19.32secs to defeat Namibia's Frank Fredericks by four metres. The record still stands 12 years on.