The Munich Olympics in 1972 was the anniversary: the twentieth in the history of modern sports. It was held in Germany from August 26 to September 10. In addition to the bright sports victories and records that are remembered every Olympic Games, these are also remembered by the tragedy that claimed lives. But first things first.
Sporting success
Traditionally, the two teams that fought in most disciplines were the United States and the USSR. The Munich Olympics in 1972 was no exception. It should be noted that bright sports results were also shown by representatives of other states.
The Munich Olympics in 1972 was remembered with a particularly large number of unique achievements. It was set 100 Olympic and 46 world records.
One of the main stars of the competition was the American swimmer Mark Spitz, who won 7 gold medals. This record remained unsurpassed until 2008, when he did not conquer the Australian Michael Phelps.
An amazing success was accompanied by the Finnish athlete Lasse Viren, who won two gold medals at distances of 5 and 10 thousand meters. At the latter, his advantage over his rivals was so great that, even having fallen in the middle of the distance, he could not only return to the race and win, but also set a world record.
The Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut became another triumph of games, having performed a very complex element, called the Korbut loop.
Basketball Tournament
The real sensation occurred in basketball at the 1972 Munich Olympics. For the first time in history, the US team, which was also called the "dream team," failed to win gold medals.
The path to the finals did not portend the Americans any particular problems. At the group stage, they won in their group 7 victories in 7 matches, the Brazilians who showed them the greatest resistance, lost with a score of 54:61.
The main rival of the US team was determined in the second qualifying group. It was the USSR national team, which also passed the preliminary tournament without losses.
In the semifinals, the Americans were head and shoulders stronger than Italians, winning after the first half of 33:16. The final score of the meeting is 68:38.
The USSR national team's semi-final confrontation with the Cubans did not work out so smoothly. By the break, the Soviet basketball players were losing 35:36. And only a confident game in the second period allowed to win with a score of 67:61.
Olympic finale
The basketball final at the Munich Olympics in 1972, many still remember. The Americans led throughout the meeting, but their advantage was not overwhelming.
At the end of the game, Soviet athletes even managed to come forward, 8 seconds before the final whistle, the score was 49:48 in favor of the USSR team. At that moment, Dag Collins intercepted the pass of Alexander Belov, and Zurab Sakandelidze had to foul. A cold-blooded American realized both free throws, the score was 50:49 in favor of the United States.
Three seconds before the end of the meeting, the head coach of the Soviet team Vladimir Kondrashin took a timeout. When the game resumed, Ivan Edeshko gave Belov a pass across the entire court, and he put the ball into the ring, earning 2 points.
Team standings
The USSR national team won the team classification at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Soviet athletes won 50 gold, 27 silver and 22 bronze medals. The Americans in total turned out to be only 5 medals less, but they received only 33 gold medals.
The team of the GDR was in third place in the team classification, and the fourth was Germany, which was considered the mistress of the competition.
The top ten also included teams from Japan, Australia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Italy.
The attack on the Olympic Games
Many remember these competitions as the fateful Munich Olympics in 1972, at which a terrorist attack was committed on September 4 .
Members of a Palestinian terrorist organization called Black September hostage the Israeli delegation. At night, when everyone was sleeping, 8 members of the group, dressed in tracksuits, entered the two apartments of the Olympic village where the Israelis lived. 12 people were taken hostage, among whom were weightlifters, wrestlers, wrestling, athletics, shooting, fencing, weightlifting and classical wrestling judges.
Already during the initial shootout, two people were killed.
The death of the hostages
The terrorists demanded the release of 234 Palestinians who were imprisoned in Israel and to ensure their unhindered access to Egypt, as well as two German radicals detained in Germany, plus 16 prisoners in different countries of Western Europe. Otherwise, they promised to kill one Israeli per hour.
Israel immediately categorically refused any negotiations. This was motivated by the fact that by making concessions to terrorists, it is possible to stimulate their subsequent attacks.
The authorities of Germany tried to deceive the Palestinians. They developed a plan to free the hostages at the airport, where they were taken by terrorists. But everything failed when the policemen, dressed as crew members, decided to leave the plane on which the Palestinians were supposed to fly out of the country. Having guessed everything, the terrorists decided to deal with the hostages.
In two helicopters 9 people were shot or blown up by a grenade. As a result of a shootout that ensued on the runway, a German police officer and five Palestinian terrorists were killed. Only three survived. Two of them were killed in a Mossad operation. Presumably, one of the attackers may still be alive.
Everyone was shocked at the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but despite this, the competition was decided to continue.