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Recruitment of torchbearers: In Germany, this task was entrusted to local sport organisations in Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Number of torchbearers: ~6,200 (Munich-Kiel and Munich-Augsburg relays excluded), of which ~1,300 were in Greece. He was also the first torchbearer in Greece for the relay of the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo. Start date: 28 July 1972, Olympia (Greece)Įnd date: 26 August 1972, Olympic Stadium, Munich (Federal Republic of Germany)įirst torchbearer: Yiannis Kirkilessis. On 27 August, the day after the Opening Ceremony, a flame was also lit and taken on a 104km relay from Munich to Augsburg, where the canoe events were being held. This two-day relay covered 933km and saw the participation of 1,280 torchbearers on foot, 90 cyclists and 34 horse riders. The flame was taken to the Maximilianeum, headquarters of the Bavarian parliament, where it was kept in a brazier until the day of the Opening Ceremony.Īt the Opening Ceremony, the last torchbearer, European Günther Zahn, was accompanied by runners from the other four continents: Kipchoge Keino (Africa), Jim Ryun (America), Kenji Kimihara (Asia) and Derek Clayton (Oceania).Ī flame was lit from the principal one to be taken on a relay from Munich to Kiel, where the sailing events were held. Upon its arrival in Munich, the flame was welcomed at a reception held on the Königsplatz, attended by 20,000 spectators. En route to Munich, the relay notably passed through Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Federal Republic of Germany and Innsbruck, Austria, cities which had hosted the Olympic Winter Games in the past. Once lit in Olympia, the flame visited Athens then crossed the country via Delphi, Larisa, Thessaloniki and Kavala. Bid processīid voting at the 65th IOC Session in Roma on 26 April 1966.Munich 1972The Torch (GETTY IMAGES) Route Design and Details At the memorial, IOC President Avery Brundage angered many when he declared, “The Games must go on.” The Olympics would be changed forever. The Games were halted for one day as a memorial service was held for the Israelis. There were some marvelous athletic performances at the 1972 Olympics, notably Mark Spitz winning seven gold medals, and setting seven world records, but they seemed of little consequence. After the tragedy at Fürstenfeldbruck he summed up the incident in just a few sad words, “They’re all gone.”
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The American public watched the tragedy via ABC Television and saw host Jim McKay detail the events for most of the day. A few were later captured, and a few were killed by Israeli hit squads, but none ever came to trial. Several of the terrorists were killed, but most escaped. There, in a few quick minutes of fighting as the Germans tried to save them, all the remaining Israelis were murdered by a bomb the terrorists had set in the helicopter which was to take them to freedom. Late in the evening of 5 September, the terrorists took their hostages to Fürstenfeldbruck, an Army air base near München. The Israel government refused this as a day of tense negotiations ensued. While the world watched on television and waited, the terrorists occupied the building of Connollystraße 31, and demanded freedom for several Arabs held in Israel prisons. But on the morning of 5 September, the Games were interrupted when eight Arab terrorists, representing the militant Black September group, entered the Olympic Village and took hostage 11 members of the Israel Olympic team. The first eleven days of the 1972 Olympics were perhaps the most beautiful celebrations of Olympia ever seen. Two days before the Opening Ceremony, the IOC voted (36-31 with three abstentions) to withdraw the invitation to Rhodesia for the 1972 Olympic Games. Shortly before the 1972 München Olympics, the African nations threatened a mass boycott if Rhodesia was allowed to compete. At its 71st Session in 1971, the IOC ruled that Rhodesian athletes could compete, but only using British uniforms, the Union Jack as the flag, and with the British anthem. Prior to the 1972 Olympics, the major controversy concerned the Rhodesian Olympic team. They ended as The Games of Terror and Tragedy. They began as The Games of Peace and Joy, in which the West German government attempted to atone for the militaristic Nazi image so associated with the 1936 Berlin Games. The München Olympics began beneath the warm summer sun of a Bavarian afternoon and ended in the cool autumn twilight of a German evening.