1972 Munich Olympics

Also called: Games of the XX Olympiad, Munich 1972

Olympics staged by West Germany as “cheerful Games” to dispel the shadow of Berlin 1936. But during the Games the Palestinian militant group Black September attacked the Israeli team, and all eleven hostages died.

Some 7,100 athletes from 121 nations took part from 26 August to 11 September 1972. In contrast to the 1936 Berlin Games that the Nazis had used for propaganda, West Germany sought to present a bright, open democracy and built the Olympic Park with its transparent tent-like roofs. The American swimmer Mark Spitz won seven gold medals, all in world-record times, and the Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut became a crowd favourite.

Before dawn on 5 September the Palestinian militant group Black September stormed the Israeli team’s quarters in the Olympic Village (the Munich massacre). Competition was halted for more than a day and resumed after a memorial service. North Korea competed at the Summer Games for the first time, winning a gold medal through the shooter Ri Ho-jun, and South Korea’s judoka Oh Seung-lip won a silver.