The , officially known as the '''Games of the XX Olympiad''', were held in
Munich ,
West Germany , from 26 August to 11 September 1972. Munich won its Olympic bid in July 1966 over the cities of
Detroit ,
Madrid and
Montreal .
The 1972 Summer Olympics were the second
Summer Olympics held in Germany, after the
1936 Summer Olympics in
Berlin . The Munich Olympics were intended to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by its official motto, "the Happy Games." The emblem of the Games was a blue solar logo (the "Bright Sun"). The Olympic mascot, the
Dachshund "Waldi," was the first officially named Olympic mascot.
The Olympic Park (''Olympiapark'') was based on
Frei Otto's plans and after the Games became a Munich landmark. The competition sites, designed by architect
Günther Behnisch , included the Olympic swimming hall, the Olympics Hall (''Olympiahalle'', a multipurpose facility) and the
Olympic Stadium (''Olympiastadion''), and an Olympic village very close to the park. The design of the stadium was considered revolutionary, with sweeping canopies of
Plexiglass stabilized by metal ropes, used on such a large scale for the first time.
The games were marred by an act known as the
Munich Massacre . On 5 September Palestinian terrorists from the
Black September terrorist group held 11
Israel i athletes hostage in their apartment in the Olympic village for almost 18 hours. After a failed rescue attempt at the military airport of
Fürstenfeldbruck , every Israeli hostage and all but three of the terrorists were killed. All Olympic events were briefly suspended but
Avery Brundage , the
International Olympic Committee president, decided that "the Games must go on" and they were continued a day later. The events of the Munich massacre were chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary, ''
One Day In September '', and a fictional account of the aftermath was dramatized in
Steven Spielberg's 2005 Film ''
Munich ''. The massacre led to increased security at future Olympics, beginning with
1976 Winter Olympics , but further increased at the
2002 Winter Olympics because of the
September 11, 2001 Attacks .
- Mark Spitz of the United States set a World Record when he won seven gold medals (and in addition breaking world's records in all those victories) in a single Olympics, bringing his lifetime total to nine (he had won two golds in Mexico City's Games four years earlier). As a Jew , Spitz was forced to leave Munich before the closing ceremonies for his own protection, after fears arose that he would be an additional target of those responsible for the Munich Massacre .
- 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.
- Lasse Virén of Finland won the 5,000 and 10,000 m (the latter after a fall), a feat he would repeat in the 1976 Summer Olympics . The late United States middle-distance legend Steve Prefontaine finished a disappointing fourth in the 5,000 m after swapping the lead multiple times with the victorious Virén
- Valeri Borzov won both the 100 m and 200 m in Track And Field . The top two US sprinters and medal favorites in the 100 m, Rey Robinson and Eddie Hayes, won their first rounds. But they were given the wrong starting time for the next round by their coach and missed the race, eliminating them.
- Also in track and field, two Black American 400-m runners, Vincent 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 .
- Australia n swimmer Shane Gould won three gold medals and two silver.
- Handball (last held in 1936) and Archery (last held in 1920) returned as Olympic sports after a long absence.
- Slalom Canoeing was held for the first time at the Olympics.
- Dan Gable won the gold medal in Wrestling without having a single point scored against him.
- Wim Ruska became the first Judoka to win two gold medals.
- For the first time, the Olympic Oath was taken by a representative of the referees.
- In Basketball , the United States' Olympic winning streak, which started in 1936, was ended by the Soviet Team's close victory in the final game. With time having apparently expired in the gold medal game, the United States had a 50-49 lead and seemed to have secured yet another gold medal. However, in a very controversial move, it was decided by the game's referees that there were still three seconds left to play because referee error compelled additional time. The extra three seconds allowed the Soviet Union to have one more chance, which they utilized to make a lay-up, leading to Aleksander Belov's last minute winning throw. A U.S. protest, filed after the match, was denied by FIBA , which voted 3-2 against. The Soviet athletes were awarded gold medals. The U.S. team refused to accept the silver medal and to date have not accepted them.
- On 11 September 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 Skiing were the demo sports.
's ''Olympiapark'' from bigfoto ]]
coin, 1972]]
See the medal winners, ordered by sport:
(''Host nation in .'')
great games
