It’s not sport

Published : Jul 26, 2008 00:00 IST

Darkest hour… a TV footage of terrorists attacking the Olympics Village in Munich in 1972.-DPA
Darkest hour… a TV footage of terrorists attacking the Olympics Village in Munich in 1972.-DPA
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Darkest hour… a TV footage of terrorists attacking the Olympics Village in Munich in 1972.-DPA

The Olympic Movement has been plagued by politics from the outset. S. R. Suryanarayan sheds light on some of the darkest moments in Olympic history.

“The Olympic Movement tends to bring together in a radiant union all the qualities which guide mankind to perfection.”

Those were the words of the creator of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin. Over 100 years later, it would seem there is a growing chasm between the Olympic rhetoric and the Olympic reality even as the aspirations of the athletes and perspectives of the participating countries keep changing. However, one thing is clear — the Olympics, which has been evolving at mind-boggling proportions, has been facing multifarious problems that have nothing to do with the sporting contests alone.

Although some incidents have cropped up at the height of competitions in the arena, forming a part of the dark chapters in the Games, there have been other occurrences that have tended to blot the spirit of the Games even as they exposed the problems of mankind such as racial issues, matters of security and terrorism among others.

The 1968 Games in Mexico is a classic example. It was staged at a time when the Vietnam War was still on and the international atmosphere was rather tense following the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.

As if that was not enough, just days before the Games, students unrest rocked Mexico City. Over 5000 students stormed the City’s Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The Mexican Army opened fire into the crowd of protestors and an estimated 200 to 300 people were killed. Though there was uncertainty over the Games, it started on schedule.

The Mexico Games, nevertheless, is considered one of the most controversial editions in the history of Olympics. Two black athletes of the United States, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, shocked the world with their ‘Black Power Salute’ on the victory podium. They were protesting against the human rights violations in the United States and drawing attention of the world to the civil rights movement.

After failing to convince their fellow black athletes to boycott the Mexico Olympics, Smith and Carlos, winners of the gold and bronze medals in the 200 metres, decided to protest in their own way. Both accepted their medals without their shoes but wearing black socks to bring attention to the poverty of the African-American community. They also wore black beads (in honour of the countless blacks who were murdered) and black scarves (denoting black pride). They then delivered the ‘Black Power Salute’ with their black-gloved fists raised and heads bowed as the Star Spangled Banner played in the background.

The incident caused a major outrage as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ordered the U.S. Olympic Committee to suspend both Smith and Carlos from the team and banish them from the Games. The two faced a heavy backlash back home.

In 1972, the Olympics returned to Germany for the first time after 1936. Since the Berlin Games was held at a time when Nazism was at its peak and Adolf Hitler wanted to use the stage to show off the ‘Aryan superiority’, the Germans in general preferred to see the Munich Games as a balm for the racial wounds caused by Hitler. German President Gustav Heinemann hit the right chord when he welcomed the Olympics as “a milestone on the road to a new way of life with the aim of realising peaceful coexistence among peoples.”

However, things took a dramatic turn as with six days remaining for the Games to end, the worst ever tragedy in Olympic history took place in Munich. Eight Arab terrorists stormed into the Olympics Village and raided the apartment block that housed the Israeli contingent. They killed two Israeli athletes and took nine others as hostage. The terrorists demanded the release of over 200 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails, along with two notorious German terrorists.

After a day of unsuccessful negotiations, the terrorists took the hostages to the military airport in Munich for a flight back to the Middle East. At the airport, German sharpshooters, chosen to ambush the kidnappers, opened fire killing three of the terrorists. A full scale gun battle ensued and that claimed the lives of all the nine hostages, along with one policeman and two terrorists.

Athletic competition was suspended for 24 hours. During a day of mourning, a memorial service was held at the main stadium in front of 80,000 spectators. Faced with the question of whether to halt the Games or not, the IOC President, Avery Brundage, convinced the IOC to let the Olympics continue. “The Games must go on,” he said.

The decision was criticised in the media but Brundage had the support of the Government of Israel. Golda Meir, the Israel Prime Minister, said: “The Israeli government does not negotiate with terrorists.”

However, the Olympics were never the same after this incident with security concerns becoming a serious issue.

On a far smaller note but yet causing enough ripples was the incident involving Zola Budd and Mary Decker in the 5000m race.

Decker was a champion middle-distance runner who in 1982 broke seven world and American records, at distances ranging from 800 to 10,000m. Unbeaten during 1980-83 (at one time she held the American records for the mile, 800, 1,500, 3,000, 5,000, and 10,000 metres), she completed the 1,500 and 3,000 metres double at the 1983 World Championships. Only the Olympic medal was missing in her collection because Decker had never run in the Olympics. In 1972 she was only 14. In 1976 she was injured. In 1980 the US boycotted the Moscow Olympics and so 1984 Olympics was her chance. She was a strong favourite.

Her challenger, Zola Budd, who ran barefoot, grew up in South Africa, which was banned from international sporting events because of apartheid. In January 1984 she ran the 5,000 metres in 15 minutes 1.83 seconds — seven seconds faster than Decker’s existing world record. But the effort was not recognised as a world record. Keen to participate in the 1984 Olympics, Budd sought British citizenship on the grounds that her grandfather was British. Amidst controversy her application was processed in haste in time for her to get her a British passport and participate in the Olympics.

In the race, by the half-way mark, Budd was a little ahead before she and Decker bumped into each other twice. The second time they bumped into each other, Decker’s spikes struck Budd’s heel. Budd stumbled and as her left leg shot out, Decker was tripped. The American pitched forward and crashed to the floor on the infield grass, clutching her right thigh. With a pulled gluteus, the hip stabiliser muscle, Decker was out of the race and in tears.

Budd carried on but with a largely American crowd booing her from the stands, it was unsettling. She finished well down the field. Later Decker was to tell journalists, that “Zola tried to cut in without being far enough ahead. There was no question but that she was in the wrong.” Track officials, however, disagreed with her after viewing the video tape of the race. Budd on her part told journalists that she tried to apologise to Decker after the race, but the American told her “Don’t bother.”

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