ENID —
The Olympic ideal is indeed a lofty one. “Citius, altius, fortius,” or “faster, higher, stronger,” is the Olympic motto.
The spirit of the games is captured in the Olympic charter, which outlines the principles of what it terms “Olympism,” the second of which is “to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”
Peace, harmony, dignity are certainly all admirable objectives.
Sadly, the darker side of human nature often seems to hang over the games.
Friday in London, thousands of athletes from all across the world marched into the Olympic stadium, in the wake of their country’s flags, reveling in the moment and nervously anticipating their upcoming competition.
A similar scene played out in Munich, Germany, nearly 40 years ago.
The games were making their triumphant return to Germany in 1972, the first time the Olympic flag had flown over Deutschland since Adolph Hitler’s 1936 games.
They marched in blue blazers and white slacks, wearing matching hats. There were no smiles, their faces set, their expressions determined.
They walked into the stadium behind Henry Herscovici, a competitive shooter, who bore the Israeli flag.
Before the games, Herscovici said he had nightmares of being shot while carrying a flag bearing the Star of David in a German stadium.
He wasn’t. The parade of nations went off without a hitch.
Ten days later, in the wee hours of the morning, after spending a night out enjoying a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof,” members of Israel’s Olympic team were sound asleep in their apartments.
Their slumber was disturbed by the presence of men in tracksuits carrying duffle bags.
They scaled the fence around the Olympic village with the help of some Canadian athletes who were likewise sneaking in after a night out on the town.
But these intruders were not athletes. They were members of a Palestinian terror group called Black September. Their aim was to kidnap the Israeli athletes, to use them to barter the freedom of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, plus a pair of German radicals.
The Israelis fought the intruders and two men died in the struggle, the wrestling coach and a weight lifter. Herscovici was not among the remaining hostages, as he and several other Israeli athletes escaped.
During the course of the day, the world watched and waited as the kidnappers and authorities negotiated. That night, authorities told the kidnappers their demands were being met, including an airplane to carry them to Egypt.
The kidnappers and hostages were bused to the Munich airport. Helicopters took them to Furstenfeldbruck, a NATO air base, where a plane waited.
There, authorities had set a trap, the goal to free the hostages and capture or kill the Palestinians. The ambush failed, miserably.
In the wake of the botched rescue attempt, 11 Israelis, five kidnappers and one German policeman died.
Another casualty of that terrible day and night was the innocence of the Olympic movement.
Today’s games are a billion-dollar business whose competitions feature many highly paid professionals.
Today, four decades hence, we stand on the brink of the London games, which figures to be the most closely guarded, most heavily insured Olympiad in history. One would think it appropriate to mark the coming anniversary of the Munich massacre in some highly public form or fashion at the London games.
A group of widows of the slain Israeli athletes appealed to the IOC to observe a moment of silence during the opening ceremony to honor the slain hostages.
The IOC refused, instead deciding to observe a moment of silence this past Monday in the Olympic village, before a crowd of about 100 people.
The kidnap drama and subsequent blood-letting was played out in front of the world. So too should be the observance of the anniversary of the massacre.
Is the IOC bowing to pressure from international supporters of Palestine and foes of Israel, or do its officials simply not want to spoil the glitz of the premier of another Olympics with the somber remembrance of past despair?
“They came to Munich in the spirit of peace and solidarity,” Rogge said during the small ceremony. “We owe it to them to keep the spirit alive and to remember them.”
The slain Israeli athletes and coaches deserve to be remembered on the world stage, by the billions expected to watch the opening ceremonies in person and on TV, not before 100 people in a cloistered ceremony.
Certainly the IOC can spare the murdered Israelis a minute.
JEFF MULLIN is senior writer of the Enid News & Eagle. Email him at jmullin@enidnews.com.
Opinion
Ghosts of Munich 1972 deserve London moment
- Opinion
-
-
Americans deserve the truth on Benghazi
Lately, the media has been consumed by the controversies surrounding the White House. Among these controversies is the horrific terrorist attack on the United States’ diplomatic compound in Benghazi that took place Sept. 11, 2012. As more people come forward with additional information regarding the attack on the consulate, many Americans, including myself, are still asking for the truth.
The Obama Administration and the State Department have been less than forthcoming with key information on Benghazi and recent information points toward a major cover-up. -
Seizure of AP phone records insult to independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
HEY HINK: Some people just are not cut out for command
Recent headlines cause me to remember an incident that occurred on an army base some years ago. Warning here: I’m taking some liberties with names and details, but the basic outline of events is accurate.
A certain company commander, let’s call him Captain Duntz, had command of a motor pool on a large army base in the continental U.S. -
We’ve become our own worst enemies
The past couple months have been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
You don’t want to dwell too long on the negative, but we do have to take notice of horrific human events and we owe it to ourselves to respond to them in some way. We don’t always agree on those responses, however, and that usually exacerbates the problem. -
Let’s reimburse higher ed for remediation costs
The good news: Oklahoma schools are teaching phonics. The bad news: It’s in college.
Students at Tulsa Community College, for example, can take a college English course called “Spelling and Phonics,” which “helps students master basic spelling literacy, principles of phonics and decoding skills.”
This sort of higher education brings to mind former Boston University president John Silber’s quip: “Higher than what?” -
AGAINST THE GRAIN: Department of Commerce highlights Main Street successes
The 24th annual Oklahoma Main Street Awards Banquet was at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum last week. Oklahoma Department of Commerce Secretary Dave Lopez addressed the gathering, and spoke of how the Commerce Department works with Main Street organizations throughout the state that are working to improve their downtown areas. Lopez pointed out that the partnership between his department and those local organizations has brought new life to those communities and that the attendees would see some of that revitalization in a video presentation. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin also addressed the gathering, and said the Main Street program has resulted in more than $1 billion in investments in the state and more than 1 million volunteer hours in its 24 years of operation.
-
OUR VIEW: Be Edmond needs your help
BMX star and local legend Mat Hoffman knows what’s it like to fall from great heights and find yourself at one of the worst low points in life. He also knows how to climb back up and tackle life’s problems head on.
-
No Americans forgotten in Benghazi
More than eight months ago on Sept. 11, the nation was shaken by the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Claiming the lives of four innocent Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, that horrific night still demands further investigation before it can be laid to rest. Due to an uncooperative administration and State Department who attempted to downplay the terrorist attack just eight weeks before the presidential election, we still don’t know the truth.
-
Saying goodbye to the earmark
When a new legislator, I worked to learn some of the more hidden and less-than-transparent aspects in the way Oklahoma politicians spent our taxpayer dollars. This wasn’t easy as even some legislators are left in the dark regarding the mechanics of how the legislative budget process is abused to the benefit of the most powerful of politicians.
-
HEY HINK: Think like a gaur before deciding on gun debate
Have you ever heard of a gaur? It’s the largest living member of the bovine family. A large gaur bull can weigh more than a ton and a half. His body may be nearly 11 feet long and he may be more than 7 feet tall at the shoulder. This is a huge, enormously powerful animal that could, no doubt, do a terrific amount of work if it would ever allow itself to be hitched to a plow. But it won’t. Man has never been able to offer the gaur a deal that would persuade it to become domesticated.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Americans deserve the truth on Benghazi
