Great/ Infamous Moments in Olympic History

This moment is more infamous than great.

During the 1972 Olympics, held in Munich, Germany, the Israeli team was held hostage and eventually killed by a Palestinian group known as 'Black September.'

It was about mid way through the second week of the Olympics. The German organisers had tried to erase memories of the 1936 Olympics which had a large military presence, and image of warfare and the fact that Adolf Hitler had exploited the games for propaganda purposes. This time, there was a lack of security, to emphasise the goal of a "Carefree" games. In the lead up to the massacre, the Israeli delegation head, Shmuel Lalkin  was worried about the lack of security, but was reassured that everything was going to be fine. He also expressed concern over the team's lodgings. The team was in an isolated part of the Olympic Village where he feared that they would be vulnerable to outside attack.

During the early morning on the 5th of September, 8 members of Black September, wearing tracksuits carrying duffel bags with AK-47 assault rifles, pistols and hand grenades, they summoned the help of unsuspecting Canadian athletes to enter the Olympic Village. They used stolen keys to enter the rooms of the Israeli team.

They stormed into the rooms of the Israeli athletes and proceeded to take them hostage. They were taken to an an awaiting coach. They were then taken to a helicopter. From there, they were taken to an airport to a waiting plane. The reason for this hostage crisis was that the Palestinians wanted the release of numerous Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

By now, the authorities were acting, and they hurriedly hatched a plan to get the athletes back. Five snipers were to be placed around the aerodrome, where the terrorists were to land. Sniper 1 was positioned behind a low wall, sniper 2 behind a truck, and snipers 3,4 and 5 were placed on the control tower.

The plan went horribly wrong because of the following factors: it was intended that the terrorists would land side on to the tower giving the snipers a clear shot - but they landed head on - the helicopter obscuring the sniper's aim. Second, when the flood lights were mistakenly turned on, it dazzled all 5 snipers, preventing them from identifying their targets. Third, the snipers didn't have the right guns for the job; they used M16s, which were machine guns, instead of the better-suited rifles.

In the ensuing fire fight that followed, all 8 terrorists were shot. But, the helicopter with the athletes was blown up by hand grenades, killing the athletes, and in the second helicopter, 4 athletes were 'mown down' by a terrorist at the door. Also a senior member of the German armed police was shot dead.

As a result, on the 6th of September, a memorial was arranged with 80,000 in attendance; on the 8th, Israeli planes bombed 10 PLO  (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) camps, killing 200.

Ever since the 1972 Olympics, security has become much tighter, with the Olympic Village becoming one of the most heavily guarded places in the world, with armed guards being standard procedure.

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre