Olympics Chief Holds Munich Moment of Silence
International Olympic Committee head Jacques Rogge held a moment of silence in the Olympic Village to remember the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The moment of silence held Monday, before brief remarks by Rogge, is the first time that the slain athletes have been memorialized inside in an Olympic Village.
The remarks, opening a ceremony marking the Olympic Truce, a U.N.-backed initiative calling for an end to hostilities during the two-weeks of the Olympic Games, were attended by IOC executive board members, special guests, Olympic athletes and officials.
The brief ceremony comes after calls from the athletes’ families, various countries’ governments, Jewish groups, President Obama and Bob Costas, to have a moment of silence for the 40th anniversary of the murder at the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
“I would like to start today’s ceremony by honoring the memory of 11 Israeli Olympians who shared the ideals and have brought us together in this beautiful Olympic Village” Rogge said. “The 11 victims of the Munich tragedy believed in that vision. They came to Munich in the spirit of peace and solidarity. We owe it to them to keep that spirit alive and to remember them.”
The widows of two of the Israeli athletes, Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, told the Jerusalem Post that the ceremony was merely a public relations stunt, and called it “shameful.” They are set to hold a news conference in London on Wednesday to again call on the IOC to hold a moment of silence at the Opening Ceremony.
On Sunday, a ceremony to remember the slain Israelis was held in London near the Olympic village.
London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled a memorial plaque to the victims at the ceremony in Hackney.
“It is entirely right this morning that we should remember those events,” Johnson said. “And today let us hope that these Olympic Games that we are holding in London this week, 40 years later, are not only happy and peaceful, and also that they will be remembered in years to come.”
The ceremony was organized by Hackney Borough Councilman Linda Kelly and Martin Sugarman, chairman of the Hackney Anglo-Israel Friendship Association, according to the London Jewish Chronicle.
Efraim Zinger, the head of Israel’s delegation to the Games, also attended the ceremony.
“I hope we will be able to concentrate on the success of Israel’s athletes and not of stories like this,” Zinger said, according to the Chronicle.
The International Olympic Committee on Sunday reiterated that there would be no moment of silence to mark the 40th anniversary of the massacre during the opening ceremony on Friday, saying it is not the appropriate venue, and that a ceremony will be held in a Munich airport in September, where most of the delegation was slain.
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