Murdered Athletes Remembered In Beijing
The 11 Israeli Athletes murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich were honoured in a memorial ceremony held in Beijing on Monday.
Organised by the Israeli embassy in the city, and the Israel Olympic Committee at the Hilton hotel, the ceremony was attended by hundreds of people, including representatives of Israel's athletic delegations, and Science, Culture and Sport Minister Raleb Majadele. Juan Antonio Samaranch, International Olympic Committee president from 1980 to 2001, and Alex Giladi, Israel's delegate to the IOC, were also present.
Ceremonies have been held at all Olympiads since, though on this occasion, Samaranch gave a heartfelt speech about keeping those athletes memories alive, saying the massacre was the "blackest moment in the history of the Olympic movement."
Widows Anki Spitzer and Ilana Romano have in the past tried to persuade IOC officials to build a monument in the city's Olympic Village, with the latter pleading with that the "next ceremony be held under the Olympics' five-ring banner."
Also levelling damning accusations at the Olympic committee, she said at the ceremony: "The sons, husbands and fathers who were murdered weren't tourists or bystanders, but part of the Olympic family. But the Olympic family doesn't recognise them."
