In honor of those murdered

KAREN JAMES

The Munich Olympic Games were at the halfway point and my swimming events were finished. I was done with my races, the nervous tension, the excitement and the pressure. The long, hard hours, the days and years of training had finally come to fruition. Now I could relax, let go and celebrate.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 4, 1972, four of us were making our way back to the Olympic Village. We had been out late watching the final game of the Canada-Russia hockey series in the Canadian Press building.

As we approached the Athlete’s Village, we decided to climb the chain-link fence surrounding the compound, rather than go back through the more distant main gate. Lingering nearby were two or three men dressed in dark clothing. As our group started to climb, the men climbed with us. We thought nothing of it at the time, although something did register that they were likely not athletes.

As we would later realize, these men were part of the Black September terrorist group. After climbing the fence, they went directly to the Israeli men’s residence, killed two athletes at the outset and held nine others as hostages. As the crisis ensued, the terrorists demanded the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners.

The following morning, both history and tragedy unfolded before my eyes. I watched the Palestinian terror leader and the German negotiator walking back and forth; I could see where the Israelis were being held against their will; and finally, I witnessed the nine Israeli hostages being led to a bus that was to take them to the airport. They were blindfolded and their hands were bound.

At the airport, German forces attempted to rescue the Israeli athletes but failed. In the resulting gunfight, one of the terrorists threw a grenade into the airplane where the nine Israeli hostages were waiting to be rescued. They all perished.

A memorial ceremony for the 11 Israelis took place in Munich the next day. I remember feeling disillusioned and angry at that ceremony. While other nations lowered their flags at half-mast, the Arab countries kept theirs flying high. The words by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Avery Brundage were empty and meaningless. Neither he nor anyone else read out the names of the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered. Instead, Brundage announced: “The Games must go on.”

With a heavy heart, I left the Olympic Games the following day.

Years later, I read a quote by George Jonas in his book Vengeance that resonates with me still today: “While nations raised their flags in victory, the Israelis carried their dead out
in coffins.”

At every Olympic Games since 1972, the widow of one of the murdered Israeli athletes, Ankie Spitzer, has asked the IOC to hold a minute of silence during the opening ceremonies in remembrance of the slain Israelis. They have refused every time.

Since 1972, the Israeli Olympic delegation has held its own memorial outside of the official Olympic setting, which has been attended by IOC officials. Is this good enough? Should the families of the murdered athletes and those close to them, the wider Jewish family and the world be satisfied with this? I think not.

What happened at Munich in 1972 changed the world forever. It changed my life forever. The scourge of terrorism, the Olympic response and the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict were broadcast around the globe for all to see. Innocent athletes were killed and the world bore witness. Whether you were watching on television or witnessing the drama unfold before your eyes, as I had, we were all affected and traumatized by what happened there.

The Olympic ideals that so enamored and captured me from when I was a young girl were shattered that day. That is why I am particularly stunned by the IOC’s refusal to mark the 40th anniversary of this horrific massacre with a moment of silence at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

One single minute of silence to honor the memories of the 11 slain Israelis at Munich during London’s opening ceremonies is not an issue of Arab versus Jew – despite that having been the political motivation for the attack. One minute of silence is about humanity and respecting the dignity and memory of those innocent athletes – athletes like myself who held the Olympic ideals in their hearts as they trained and participated.

A horrible terrorist act occurred at Munich 40 years ago and the following day the Olympic world stopped for a brief moment to give token recognition to what happened. Justice was never done – the perpetrators were never put on trial, let alone held in jail for more than a month – and, until today, the names of the murdered Israelis have never been read aloud by the IOC.

All these years later, I still meet with fellow athletes who were with me in Munich – other swimmers like me, cyclists, water polo players, track-and-field athletes – none of whom is Jewish, all of whom, however, feel that a terrible injustice has not been properly addressed by the Olympic movement. All of us were deeply affected by that tragedy and feel the memory of those murdered should be honored, especially this year.

This Friday, the London 2012 Olympic Summer Games will hold its opening ceremonies. It will be a spectacular display, with representation from 205 nations holding their flags aloft and marching with pride. The Olympic ideals will be on display and articulated in the motto of the “Faster, Higher, Stronger” and with the emphasis on peaceful competition free of racism, religion and politics.

The time has arrived for the IOC to agree to the request started by Ankie Spitzer four decades ago. The time has arrived for the IOC to answer the calls from countries like Canada, Australia, the United States, Italy and Germany, to hold an official, public one minute of silence during the Olympic Games in London. On this, the 40th anniversary of the massacre at Munich, I implore the IOC to finally do the right thing – to honor the Israelis who lived the Olympic dream but perished at the hands of terror.

The murdered members of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team were Moshe Weinberg (wrestling coach), Yossef Romano (weightlifter), Ze'ev Friedman (weightlifter), David Berger (weightlifter), Yakov Springer (weightlifting judge), Eliezer Halfin (wrestler), Yossef Gutfreund (wrestling referee), Kehat Shorr (shooting coach), Mark Slavin (wrestler), Andre Spitzer (fencing coach) and Amitzur Shapira (track coach).

To sign Spitzer’s petition, visit change.org/petitions/international-olympic-committee-minute-of-silence-at-the-2012-london-olympics. To learn more about this issue, visit cija.ca.

Karen James competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics as a member of the Canadian Olympic swim team. She is currently a Jewish community advocate living in Vancouver.

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