1972 Summer Olympics

The Games of the XX Olympiad were held in 1972 in Munich, West Germany. In the bid to organise the Olympics, Munich beat out Detroit, Madrid and Montreal.

The Munich Games were marred by an act of terrorism. On September 5, Palestinian terrorists killed 2 Israeli athletes and took 9 hostage. After a failed rescue attempt, all hostages and all but three of terrorists were killed. For more, see Munich massacre. All Olympic events were suspended for one day after the terrorist action became known. They were continued a day later, although some athletes decided to leave Munich.

Highlights

• Mark Spitz set seven World Records to win a record seven gold medals in one Olympics, bringing his total to nine.
• Olga Korbut, a tiny Soviet gymnast, became a media star after winning a gold medal in the Team Competition event, failing to win in the individual all-around after a fall, and finally winning two gold medals in the Balance Beam and the Floor Exercise events.
• This was the first Olympiad to have a named mascot: Waldi the Daschund.
• Lasse Virén of Finland won the 5000 and 10000 m (the latter after a fall), a feat he would repeat in the 1976 Summer Olympics.
• Valeri Borzov won both the 100 m and 200 m in track and field.
• Also in track and field, two African-American athletes, Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett, acted disrespectfully on the medal stand, twirling their medals (gold and silver, respectively) and joking with one another as the Star-Spangled Banner was being played during the award ceremony. They were banned from the Olympics for life, as were Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the 1968 Summer Olympics.
• Australian swimmer Shane Gould wins three gold medals and two silver.
• Handball (last held in 1936) and Archery (last held in 1920) return as Olympic sports after a long absence. The US men's team consisted of a mish mash of athletes that were proficent at their respective sports. Their opening game consisted of competing against the Yugoslavian team that was highly ranked. The US team lost but almost pulled an upset.
• Whitewater canoeing is held for the first time at the Olympics.
• For the first time, the Olympic Oath is also taken by a representative of the referees.
• In basketball, the United States' Olympic winning streak, which started in 1936, was ended by the Soviet Union team's close victory in the final game. The last three seconds, during which US athletes missed their victory, were replayed two times before the Aleksander Belov's winning throw, due to faults by referees. US protest, filed after the match was denied by FIBA and the Soviet Union athletes were awarded gold medals. US team refused to accept the silver medal. [1]
• On September 11, a small plane was stolen in Stuttgart and authorities received information that Arab terrorists were planning to drop a bomb on the final ceremonies. IOC officials and Chancellor Willy Brandt, who were attending the ceremonies, were informed. Defense minister Georg Leber had two fighter planes follow the stolen plane, with the intent of shooting it down should it approach Munich. Radar contact to the plane was lost. A short while later, radar contact to an unknown plane was established, but it turned out to be a civilian passenger aircraft. The stolen plane was never found.
• Badminton and Water Ski are the demo sports.

Medals awarded

See the medal winners, ordered by sport:

Medal count

Top medal-collecting nations:
(for the full table, see 1972 Summer Olympics medal count)

(Host nation in bold.)

Nations

Articles about Munich Summer Olympics by nation:

See also

• 1972 Summer Paralympics
• International Olympic Committee
• WikiProject Sports Olympics
• IOC country codes

External links

• IOC Site on 1972 Summer Olympics

Bibliography