1972 Summer Olympics Explained

Host City:Munich, West Germany
Motto:The Cheerful Games
(German: Heitere Spiele)
Nations:121
Athletes:7,134 (6,075 men, 1,059 women)
Events:195 in 21 sports (28 disciplines)
Opening:26 August 1972
Closing:11 September 1972
Opened By:President Gustav Heinemann[1]
Cauldron:Günther Zahn
Stadium:Olympiastadion
Summer Prev:Mexico City 1968
Summer Next:Montreal 1976
Winter Prev:Sapporo 1972
Winter Next:Innsbruck 1976

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad and officially branded as Munich 1972 (German: München 1972), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972.

The event was overshadowed by the Munich massacre in the second week, in which eleven Israeli athletes and coaches and a West German police officer at the Olympic Village were killed by Palestinian Black September members. The motivation for the attack was the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The 1972 Summer Olympics were the second Summer Olympics to be held in Germany, after the 1936 Games in Berlin, which had taken place under the Nazi rule. Thus Germany became only the second country at that point after the United States to have two different cities host the Summer Olympics[2] . The West German Government had been eager to have the Munich Olympics present a democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by the Games' official motto, "Die Heiteren Spiele",[3] or "the cheerful Games".[4] The logo of the Games was a blue solar logo (the "Bright Sun") by Otl Aicher, the designer and director of the visual conception commission.[5] The hostesses wore sky-blue dirndls as a promotion of Bavarian cultural heritage.[6] The Olympic mascot, the dachshund "Waldi", was the first officially named Olympic mascot. The Olympic Fanfare was composed by Herbert Rehbein.[7] The Soviet Union won the most gold and overall medals.

The Olympic Park (Olympiapark) is based on Frei Otto's plans and became a Munich landmark after the Games. 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 these stadia was considered revolutionary, with sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by metal ropes, used on such a large scale for the first time.[8]

Host city selection

1972 Summer Olympics bidding results[9]
CityCountryRound
12
29 31
16 16
6 13
6

Munich won its Olympic bid on 26 April 1966, at the 64th IOC Session in Rome, Italy, over bids presented by Detroit, Madrid, and Montréal. Montréal would eventually host the following Olympic Games in 1976.[10]

Munich massacre

See main article: Munich massacre.

The Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the "Munich massacre". Just before dawn on 5 September, a group of eight members of the Palestinian Black September militant organization broke into the Olympic Village and took eleven Israeli athletes, coaches and officials hostage in their apartments. Two of the hostages who resisted were killed in the first moments of the break-in; the subsequent standoff in the Olympic Village lasted for almost 18 hours.

Late in the evening of 5 September that same day, the terrorists and their nine remaining hostages were transferred by helicopter to the military airport of Fürstenfeldbruck, ostensibly to board a plane bound for an undetermined Arab country. The German authorities planned to ambush them there, but underestimated the numbers of their opposition and were thus undermanned. During a botched rescue attempt, all of the Israeli hostages were killed. Four of them were shot, then incinerated when one of the terrorists detonated a grenade inside the helicopter in which the hostages were sitting. The 5 remaining hostages were then shot and killed with a machine gun.

All but three of the terrorists were killed as well. Although arrested and imprisoned pending trial, they were released by the West German government on 29 October 1972, in exchange for the hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615. Two of those three were supposedly hunted down and assassinated later by the Mossad.[11] Jamal Al-Gashey, who is believed to be the sole survivor, is still living today in hiding in an unspecified African country with his wife and two children. The Olympic events were suspended several hours after the initial attack for the first time in the modern Olympic Games history, but once the incident was concluded, Avery Brundage, the International Olympic Committee president, declared that "the Games must go on". A memorial ceremony was then held in the Olympic stadium, and the competitions resumed after a stoppage of 34 hours. Due to the suspension, the Games that were originally to close on 10 September were rescheduled to 11 September.[12] The attack prompted heightened security at subsequent Olympics beginning with the 1976 Winter Olympics.

The massacre led the German federal government to re-examine its anti-terrorism policies, which at the time were dominated by a pacifist approach imposed after World War II. This led to the creation of the elite counter-terrorist unit GSG 9, similar to the British SAS. It also led Israel to launch a campaign known as Operation Wrath of God, in which those suspected of involvement were systematically tracked down and assassinated.

The events of the Munich massacre were chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary, One Day in September.[13] An account of the aftermath is also dramatized in three films: the 1976 made-for-TV movie 21 Hours at Munich, the 1986 made-for-TV movie Sword of Gideon[14] and Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich.[15] In her film 1972, Artist Sarah Morris interviews Georg Sieber, a former police psychiatrist who advised the Olympics' security team, about the events and aftermath of Black September.[16]

Highlights

Venues

Cost

The Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Munich 1972 Summer Olympics at US$1.0 billion in 2015-dollars.[25] This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) direct capital costs incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build, e.g., the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The cost for Munich 1972 compares with costs of US$4.6 billion for Rio 2016, US$15 billion for London 2012 (the most costly Summer Olympics to date) and US$51 billion for Sochi 2014 — the most expensive Olympic Games in history.[26] Average cost for Summer Games since 1960 is US$5.2 billion.

Sports

The 1972 Summer Olympic programme featured 195 events in the following 21 sports:

Demonstration sports

Participating National Olympic Committees

Eleven nations made their first Olympic appearance in Munich: Albania, Dahomey (now Benin), Gabon, North Korea, Lesotho, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Swaziland, Togo, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso).

Rhodesia's invitation to take part in the 1972 Summer Games was withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee four days before the opening ceremony, in response to African countries' (such as Ethiopia and Kenya) protests against the Rhodesian government. (Rhodesia did, however, compete in the 1972 Summer Paralympics, held a little earlier in Heidelberg.)[27] [28] The People's Republic of China last competed at the 1952 Summer Games but had since withdrawn from the IOC due to a dispute with the Republic of China over the right to represent China.[29]

Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees

Calendar

All times are in Central European Time (UTC+1)

OCOpening ceremony●Event competitions1Gold medal eventsCCClosing ceremony●Suspended event competitionsMSMemorial service
style=width:18%; colspan=2 rowspan=2August/September 1972AugustSeptemberstyle=width:6%; rowspan=2Events
style=width:4%;26th
Sat		style=width:4%;27th
Sun		style=width:4%;28th
Mon		style=width:4%;29th
Tue		style=width:4%;30th
Wed		style=width:4%;31st
Thu		style=width:4%;1st
Fri		style=width:4%;2nd
Sat		style=width:4%;3rd
Sun		style=width:4%;4th
Mon		style=width:4%;5th
Tue		style=width:4%;6th
Wed		style=width:4%;7th
Thu		style=width:4%;8th
Fri		style=width:4%;9th
Sat		style=width:4%;10th
Sun		style=width:4%;11th
Mon
Ceremonies OCMS CC
Aquatics
Diving<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->1<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->1<-- 31 -->●<-- 2 -->1<-- 3 -->●<-- 4 -->1<-- 5 -->34
Swimming<-- 26 -->3<-- 29 -->4<-- 30 -->4<-- 31 -->3<-- 1 -->3<-- 2 -->4<-- 3 -->4<-- 4 -->4<-- 5 -->
Water polo<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 1 -->●<-- 2 -->●<-- 3 -->●<-- 4 -->1<-- 5 -->
Archery<-- 26 -->●<-- 8 -->●<-- 9 -->●<-- 10 -->2<-- 11 -->2
Athletics<-- 26 -->2<-- 1 -->2<-- 2 -->5<-- 3 -->6<-- 4 -->3<-- 5 -->7<-- 8 -->2<-- 9 -->3<-- 10 -->8<-- 11 -->38
Basketball<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 2 -->●<-- 3 -->●<-- 4 -->●<-- 6 -->●<-- 7 -->●<-- 8 -->●<-- 9 -->1<-- 10 -->1
Boxing<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 1 -->●<-- 2 -->●<-- 3 -->●<-- 4 -->●<-- 5 -->●<-- 6 -->●<-- 7 -->●<-- 8 -->11<-- 11 -->11
Slalom<-- 26 -->1<-- 29 -->3<-- 31 -->11
Sprint<-- 26 -->●<-- 6 -->●<-- 8 -->●<-- 9 -->7<-- 10 -->
align=left rowspan=2Cycling<-- 26 -->1<-- 30 -->1<-- 8 -->7
<-- 26 -->1<-- 1 -->2<-- 2 -->1<-- 3 -->●<-- 4 -->1<-- 5 -->
Equestrian<-- 26 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->2<-- 1 -->1<-- 4 -->●<-- 5 -->1<-- 8 -->1<-- 10 -->1<-- T -->6
Fencing<-- 26 -->●<-- 30 -->1<-- 31 -->1<-- 1 -->1<-- 3 -->1<-- 4 -->1<-- 5 -->●<-- 6 -->1<-- 7 -->●<-- 8 -->1<-- 9 -->1<-- 10 -->8
Field hockey<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 1 -->●<-- 2 -->●<-- 3 -->●<-- 4 -->●<-- 5 -->●<-- 8 -->●<-- 9 -->●<-- 10 -->1<-- 11 -->1
Football<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 1 -->●<-- 2 -->●<-- 4 -->●<-- 6 -->●<-- 7 -->●<-- 9 -->1<-- 11 -->1
Gymnastics<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->1<-- 29 -->1<-- 30 -->2<-- 31 -->4<-- 1 -->6<-- 2 -->14
Handball<-- 26 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 2 -->●<-- 4 -->●<-- 6 -->●<-- 7 -->●<-- 8 -->●<-- 9 -->●<-- 10 -->1<-- 11 -->1
Judo<-- 26 -->1<-- 1 -->1<-- 2 -->1<-- 3 -->1<-- 4 -->1<-- 5 -->5
Modern pentathlon<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->2<-- 1 -->2
Rowing<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 1 -->●<-- 2 -->7<-- 3 -->7
Sailing<-- 26 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 1 -->●<-- 4 -->●<-- 5 -->6<-- 8 -->6
Shooting<-- 26 -->1<-- 28 -->1<-- 29 -->1<-- 30 -->1<-- 31 -->●<-- 1 -->2<-- 2 -->2<-- 3 -->8
Volleyball<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->●<-- 1 -->●<-- 2 -->●<-- 3 -->●<-- 4 -->●<-- 6 -->●<-- 7 -->1<-- 8 -->●<-- 9 -->1<-- 10 -->2
Weightlifting<-- 26 -->1<-- 28 -->1<-- 29 -->1<-- 30 -->1<-- 31 -->1<-- 1 -->1<-- 3 -->1<-- 4 -->1<-- 5 -->●<-- 6 -->1<-- 7 -->9
Wrestling<-- 26 -->●<-- 28 -->●<-- 29 -->●<-- 30 -->●<-- 31 -->10<-- 1 -->●<-- 6 -->●<-- 7 -->●<-- 8 -->●<-- 9 -->●<-- 10 -->10<-- 11 -->20
Daily medal events 2 8 8 13 27 16 23 14 13 ‡2 16 3 15 34 1 195
Cumulative total 2 10 18 31 587497111124126 142 145160194 195
August/September 1972style=width:4%;26th
Sat		style=width:4%;27th
Sun		style=width:4%;28th
Mon		style=width:4%;29th
Tue		style=width:4%;30th
Wed		style=width:4%;31st
Thu		style=width:4%;1st
Fri		style=width:4%;2nd
Sat		style=width:4%;3rd
Sun		style=width:4%;4th
Mon		style=width:4%;5th
Tue		style=width:4%;6th
Wed		style=width:4%;7th
Thu		style=width:4%;8th
Fri		style=width:4%;9th
Sat		style=width:4%;10th
Sun		style=width:4%;11th
Mon		Total events
AugustSeptember

‡ No medals were awarded on 5 September as all Olympic competitions were suspended during that day although events that were being held at the time of the suspension were allowed to finish to their conclusion.

Note: The Memorial service was held in the Olympic Stadium on 6 September which was attended by 80,000 spectators and 3,000 athletes. Following this all Olympic competitions were then allowed to resume after a 34-hour suspension.

Medal count

See main article: 1972 Summer Olympics medal table. These are the top ten nations that won medals at the 1972 Games.

Key

Notes and References

  1. Factsheet - Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad. dead. International Olympic Committee. 9 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20160814215458/https://stillmed.olympic.org/Documents/Reference_documents_Factsheets/Opening_ceremony_of_the_Games_of_the_Olympiad.pdf. 14 August 2016. 22 December 2018.
  2. Web site: List of Olympic Host Cities – Architecture of the Games . 2024-08-14 . en.
  3. News: Ein Geschenk der Deutschen an sich selbst. Der Spiegel. 35/1972. 28–29. de. 21 August 1972. … für die versprochene Heiterkeit der Spiele, die den Berliner Monumentalismus von 1936 vergessen machen und dem Image der Bundesrepublik in aller Welt aufhelfen sollen.
  4. Book: Digitized version of the Official Report of the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXth Olympiad Munich 1972 (Volume 2). 1972. de. proSport GmbH & Co. KG. München Ed. Herbert Kunze. 22. … the theme of the "cheerful Games"…. 13 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20181225173415/https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/25278/rec/38. 25 December 2018. dead.
  5. Web site: Official Emblem – Munich 1972 Olympics. 8 April 2013.
  6. News: Typisch Oktoberfest? Darum gehört ein Dirndl eigentlich nicht auf die Wiesn. Strassmair. Michaela. www.focus.de. September 2019. 9 May 2020. de.
  7. Web site: Herbert Rehbein: Olympic Fanfare Munich 1972 (TV Intro). 7 May 2023.
  8. Web site: Uhrig . Klaus . Die gebaute Utopie: Das Münchner Olympiastadion . 13 February 2015 . 20 March 2014 . de . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150213081418/http://www.br.de/fernsehen/ard-alpha/sendungen/schulfernsehen/kunst-olympiastadion-muenchen100.html . 13 February 2015 .
  9. Web site: Past Olympic host city election results . . 17 March 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110124022022/http://www.gamesbids.com/eng/past.html . 24 January 2011 . live .
  10. Web site: IOC VOTE HISTORY. aldaver.com. 11 June 2008. 25 May 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080525070757/http://www.aldaver.com/votes.html. dead.
  11. https://fas.org/irp/eprint/calahan.htm Countering Terrorism: The Israeli Response To The 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre And The Development Of Independence Covert Action Teams
  12. Web site: 1972 Olympics – Munich Summer Games results & highlights. 7 February 2019. International Olympic Committee. 22 May 2019.
  13. Web site: Movies One Day in September (1999). Deming. Mark. https://web.archive.org/web/20141215045841/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/186705/One-Day-in-September/overview. dead. 15 December 2014. Movies & TV Dept.. The New York Times. 2014. 6 May 2015.
  14. News: Television Sword of Gideon. The New York Times. 6 May 2015.
  15. News: Dargis. Manohla. An Action Film About the Need to Talk. The New York Times. 23 December 2005. 6 May 2015.
  16. Web site: Herbert. Martin. Sarah Morris. https://web.archive.org/web/20081218194532/http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/sarah_morris2/. dead. 18 December 2008. frieze.com. Frieze Magazine. 6 May 2015.
  17. Web site: USA Basketball . https://web.archive.org/web/20070822182059/http://www.usabasketball.com/history/moly_1972.html . 22 August 2007.
  18. Web site: 120 years, 120 stories (Part 15) : Soviets beat the Americans amidst controversies involving communist judges. 3 March 2016. 4 March 2016. 25 February 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225062628/https://www.sports-nova.com/2016/03/04/120-years-120-stories-part-15-soviets-beat-americans-amidst-controversies-involving-communist-judges/. dead.
  19. Web site: Stolen gold and forgotten silver: 50 years after Americans refused medals, some are missing. Joe. Vardon. The Athletic. 7 May 2023.
  20. Book: Schiller . K. . Young . C. . The 1972 Munich Olympics and the Making of Modern Germany . University of California Press . Weimar and now . 2010 . 978-0-520-26213-3 . 17 April 2015.
  21. Web site: 400 metres, Men . Olympedia . 4 August 2020.
  22. Neil Amdur, " Of Gold and Drugs," The New York Times (4 September 1972). Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  23. News: Better late than never . https://web.archive.org/web/20010507004733/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/news/2001/01/30/usoc_demont_ap/ . dead . 7 May 2001 . 30 January 2001 . sportsillustrated.cnn.com . Associated Press .
  24. Web site: Athletics at the 1972 Munich Summer Games: Men's Pole Vault . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173850/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1972/ATH/mens-pole-vault.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 4 January 2018 . sports-reference.com.
  25. Book: 2804554. The Oxford Olympics Study 2016: Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games. Flyvbjerg. Bent. Stewart. Allison. Budzier. Alexander. Saïd Business School Working Papers (Oxford: University of Oxford). 2016. Oxford. 9–13. 10.2139/ssrn.2804554 . 1607.04484 . 156794182 .
  26. News: Sochi 2014: the costliest Olympics yet but where has all the money gone? . The Guardian . 12 February 2014.
  27. News: 1972: Rhodesia out of Olympics. 22 August 1972. 7 May 2023. news.bbc.co.uk.
  28. Web site: The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search. news.google.com. 7 May 2023.
  29. Web site: China and the Olympic Movement. Xiao. Li. China Internet Information Center. August 4, 2011.

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