26 August 1972. The 20th Olympics started in Berlin, the capital of Germany. Germany got the opportunity to host the Olympics after 36 years. He didn’t want any trouble. Strict arrangements were also made for the security of the players. Security personnel in the stadium should be dressed in ordinary clothes.
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There was a major breach in this arrangement on the 11th day of the event, when terrorists entered the Olympic Village and took 11 Israeli players hostage.
In the fourth episode of ‘Olympic Ke Kisse’ series, such incidents which created fear in the Olympic event…
11 Israeli athletes killed in Munich Olympics
5 September 1972, 11th day of the Munich Olympics. At 4:30 in the morning, eight terrorists from the Palestinian militant organization Black September climbed the walls and entered the Olympic Village. The terrorists, disguised as athletes, went straight to the area where the Israeli athletes were staying. They gathered all the athletes at gunpoint.
During this time, when wrestler Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yosef Romano resisted the terrorists, they were shot. The remaining 9 people were still in the custody of the terrorists.
German police personnel deployed outside the apartment of Israeli athletes.
After capturing the players, the terrorists put forward a demand to the Israeli government that 200 Palestinians lodged in Israeli jails and two terrorists lodged in Western Germany should be released. The terrorists also demanded an airplane to take them to a safe place in the Middle East. The demands were accepted by 10 pm.
Blood was found in the Israeli players’ apartment after the terrorists left.
At 10:30 pm, the terrorists, after tying black bands on their hands, legs and eyes, took the athletes in two helicopters to the Furstenfeldbruck airbase, 25 km away. Where the German police were secretly keeping an eye on the terrorists.
Two terrorists came down to inspect the airstrip and got wind of the German police being there. The terrorists shouted about this to their remaining comrades. Meanwhile, firing started from the police side. Some terrorists and police officers were killed in the firing.
The remaining terrorists and police officers hid in safe places, but the tied-up players were left stranded in the middle. Meanwhile, the terrorists extinguished the floodlights by firing bullets and continued the firing. At midnight, a German official announced on TV that all the terrorists had been killed and the athletes had been freed, but this announcement was made in haste.
The helicopter in which the players were brought burnt after the terrorist attack.
Just after midnight a terrorist threw a grenade at a helicopter, killing four Israeli athletes. Another terrorist opened fire on another helicopter. Due to which the remaining 5 athletes were also killed. The firing stopped by around 12:30 in the night. In this, 11 Israeli athletes including a German policeman and five terrorists were killed. Whereas somehow three terrorists were caught.
The following day, the Olympic Games were postponed for 24 hours in tribute to the athletes killed. After that the games resumed, but the Israeli athletes had returned to their country.
Front page of The Sun newspaper the day after the attack.
When 200 students protesting against the Olympics were killed in Mexico
Before 1972, the 1968 Olympics were already stained with blood. On October 2, 1968, just ten days before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, thousands of students gathered at Tlatelolco Plaza in Mexico City. The students demanded that instead of spending a lot of money on the Olympics, the government should invest it in the interest of the people of the country.
The student movement was peaceful, but the Mexican government wanted something else. More than 300 government snipers were deployed on rooftops surrounding the plaza. Suddenly snipers take aim and start shooting at the students. Over the next few minutes the Tlatelolco plaza was filled with 200–300 bodies. Thousands of people were also injured in the incident.
Memorial to the Mexican students killed at Tlatelolco Plaza.
The impact of this massacre was also seen in the Olympic Games which started 10 days later. Many players paid tribute to the deceased in their own way. In return of which he had to face many types of restrictions. After the bloody games of 1968 and 1972, the era of boycott started in the Olympics.
When African countries called back players because of New Zealand’s rugby team
In 1976, the Olympics were to be held in Montreal, France. Just a day before the opening ceremony of the event, more than 30 African and Arab countries withdrew their players due to apartheid. Due to this, in many events players had to be declared winners without playing. In the absence of the teams, the organizers had to refund the ticket money to the spectators.
Why did African countries decide to withdraw from the Olympics?
In fact, in 1976, the New Zealand rugby team toured South Africa, which had enacted laws against apartheid. Although rugby was not a part of the Olympics. In the same Africa, a month before the event, the Soweto massacre took place, in which the South African police killed hundreds of black people protesting against apartheid.
Kenyan players at the airport while returning from the 1976 Olympics.
The countries that were boycotting the Olympics were demanding to ban New Zealand from the Olympics, considering them to be a supporter of South Africa. However, the demand was not accepted due to which these countries called back their players. Whereas due to apartheid, South Africa had to face a ban from the Olympics from 1964 to 1992.
However, apart from this boycott, there were many bitter memories associated with the 1976 Olympics. Canada was left 1.6 billion Canadian dollars in debt following the event. It took many years to recover from this, but the Olympics could not quickly recover from its boycott trend. This remained the same for the next two events.
Attack on Afghanistan, 60 countries left Moscow Olympics
On December 24, 1979, just a day before Christmas, the Soviet Union began airdropping troops into cities in its neighboring country Afghanistan. Before the Afghan government could understand anything, Soviet soldiers from the border side also declared war.
Within the next few days, the army reached the Afghan Rashtrapati Bhavan and poisoned all the ministers, including the President, to death. After a coup in Afghanistan, Babrak Karmal was made a puppet ruler on behalf of the Soviets. From here began the civil war in Afghanistan which continued for the next decade.
Photo of the opening ceremony of the Moscow Olympics 1980.
The Soviet Union had to suffer the consequences of military intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980 Olympics. It was organized in Moscow, the capital of the USSR, but these games faced a huge boycott, due to the Soviet-Afghan War.
Jimmy Carter, the then President of America, a staunch opponent of the Soviet Union, led this boycott trend. More than 60 countries participated in this boycott against the Soviet Union’s Afghan attack. Carter also proposed to the IOC to make Greece the permanent host of the Olympics. So that there could be no politics regarding the event, but the IOC rejected the proposal.
Even during the Games, players and sports had to face many restrictions. The medal tally of the 1980 Olympics was also the most unbalanced since the 1904 Games.
USSR took revenge in 1984, 14 countries did not send players to the Olympics
The USSR took revenge for the 1980 boycott in the 1984 Olympics. This time the event was to be held in Los Angeles. Just months before the Games began, the USSR accused the United States of instigating politics through sports. He refused to send Soviet Union players to Los Angeles, citing danger to the lives of his players.
Like the Soviet Union, 13 more countries refused to send their players to the 1984 Olympics. Like last time, this time too the effect of boycott was visible on the medal tally and competition.
News of Soviet Union leaving the Olympics.
In 1988, the Olympic Games were played in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. These sports were also seen struggling with politics and boycott. The impact of the June Democratic Struggle going on in South Korea in the 80s was also visible on the Olympics.
During this time, South Korea was also struggling with a war with North Korea. North Korea demanded Olympic co-hosting from the IOC, which was rejected. In return, North Korea boycotted the Olympics, in which it got support from countries like Cuba and Ethiopia. However, these incidents did not have much impact on sports.
Things started to improve with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The Cold War ended in 1991, bringing peace to the turmoil of global politics. A united Germany returned in 1992. After ending apartheid and establishing democracy, South Africa also made a comeback, but before the new century, another attack was waiting for the Olympics.
Bomb blast took place some distance away from the stadium in 1996 Olympics
The 1996 Olympic Games were held in Georgia. On July 27, 1996, an explosion occurred at a music concert being held at Centennial Olympic Park, a short distance from the Olympic Stadium. In which 2 people died. While more than 100 people were injured.
The bomb used in the attack was a hand-made pipe bomb which was made at home and was kept in a bag and planted among the people. Before the incident, the attacker had called and warned the police twice about the blast.
Photograph before and after the 1996 Atlanta bombings.
In view of the bomb blasts of 1972, the concerns of the governments increased. However, the US government continued the Games while ensuring safety. After this incident, many more such incidents were seen in the US.
In 2003, Eric Rudolph, the mastermind of the Atlanta blasts, was captured. After which it was revealed that Rudolph had carried out these attacks because of America’s abortion law. In 2005 he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
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In the fifth and last episode of the Olympic series, we will know how sending players to the Olympics started in India? What was the Olympic connection of Sachin and Kambli…
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