FREE ESSAY ON TERRORISM AND SECURITY IN THE OLYMPICS

TERRORISM AND SECURITY IN THE OLYMPICS

Terrorism and Security in the Olympics
Security is a fundamental notion in sports. Nowadays athletes are viewed often through
the media, therefore they are recognizable. In the Olympics security measures must be
taken to protect the athletes. There are many different nationalities involved therefore
security has to be taken in order to ensure that there aren't conflicting views that
could possibly be damaging towards another team. But quite often it cannot be prevented.
On the morning of September 5, 1972, the members of the Israeli delegation awoke in their
quarters in the Olympic village to the desperate cries of wrestling referee Joseph
Gottfreund. Eight Arab commandos (from the Palestinian terrorist organization Black
September) broke into the Olympic compound in Munich. In an attempt to create time for an
escape, Joseph Gottfreund tried to block off the door to the quarters in order to stall
the intruders. He told his colleagues to leave the premises. The terrorist shot and
killed him immediately along with Yaakov Springer, the weightlifting referee. Those in
the adjoining apartments who were not woken by the muffled cries were woken from the
sounds of machine guns. The commandos then took nine others of the eighteen-member
Israeli Olympic team hostage. They then settled into the compound for a siege. The
terrorists imprisoned and tied up the athletes and their coaches inside the apartments.
They were moved into one of the delegates' room where they were guarded by eight of the
terrorists. Their weapons included sub-machine guns, pistols and grenades. Moshe
Weinberg, a wrestling referee, and Joseph Romano, a weightlifter, were killed during an
effort to free themselves from the terrorists.
Their reasons for holding the Israelis hostage were that they wanted to persuade the
release of two hundred Arab guerrillas that were being held in Israel. The terrorists
demanded that the prisoners be flown from Israel to an Arab country, allowing them free
passage. West German officials negotiated with the Arab commandos with the help of the
Tunisian Ambassador and the representative of the Arab League from Bonn. But
unfortunately, this has no effect on what the commandos were trying to accomplish. Their
demands were unreasonable, and the Israeli side would not budge from its views. In an
attempt to save some of the Israeli hostages, two West German ministers of the interior
offered themselves as replacements for the hostages. The Arabs refused this offer.
It was obvious that the negotiations over the release of the hostages were not going to
work. A new plan was put into effect. West German officials started to focus their time
on getting the Arabs and their hostages out of the Olympic Village. This would allow
German sharpshooters to put some control over the commandos. This seemed like a better
alternative a pose to storming the compound and dangering the lives of the Israeli
hostages and other athletes.
Negotiations lasted until shortly after 9:00 p.m. The West Germans has successfully
persuaded the Arab commandos to leave the compound with their hostages. The commandos
agreed to leave on a flight to an Arab country together with their hostages. They made
their was towards the Furstenfeldbruck military airport, a fifteen mile trek away from
Munich. The Arab commandos anticipated that something could threaten their plans. In
order to control their hostages they split them up into two groups and tied and
blindfolded them. They were also aware of two potential traps the West Germans had set
for them.
The sharpshooters were placed along the path the Arab commandos had to walk their
hostage's two helicopters that had flown them from Munich to a waiting jet. The nine
Israeli sportsmen were led out handcuffed to each other to two helicopters, which were to
fly them to the airport. This was the only opportunity the West Germans had to prevent
the Arabs from leaving the country. As the first group of Arabs and hostages walked to
the jet, shots rang out. No one is certain who opened fire first (be it the West German
Sharpshooters or the Arab commandos). However when the West Germans began firing, or
firing back, that was the beginning of the shooting of the Israeli hostages. The second
commando group had barely left their helicopter. One commando fired into the helicopter,
another threw a grenade into it, killing the second group of hostages. In the end all
nine Israeli hostages had been killed, five Arab commandos had been killed, and three had
been wounded.
The remaining Israeli team decided to leave the Olympic games but the Committee did not
cancel the games following the murders. The games were put back on after only a twenty
four-hour break period. This left the world shocked and offended. Israel's call to halt
the Games was left unnoticed, for no other Olympic team joined them in their boycott.
However five other athletes, non-Jewish, left the Games for reasons of conscience.
Germany's hopes for peaceful games, devoid of politics died too. But the Olympic spirit
was too strong to snuff out.
Twenty five years later a bombing occurs at Centennial Olympic Park, where thousands of
visitors had gathered on the ninth day of the 1996 Summer Olympics. The bomb had been
placed near the main stage in the park. When it went off it injured one hundred and
eleven people and killed one, Alice Hawthorne, a mother who had traveled to Atlanta with
her daughter to see the Olympics. This incident also caused a Turkish cameraman to die of
a heart attack responding to the blast. The bomb was improvised and homemade. "The fatal
bombing in Atlanta was a terrorist attack aimed at thousands of innocent persons gathered
at the Olympic Park," said the director of the FBI. Once again, another Olympics are
squandered in the shadow of terrorism.
The bombing at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta was not the first time an Olympic Games
had been disrupted by terrorism. The Munich disaster had happened in 1972. The lasting
images of those Olympic Games are that of a terrorist in a ski mask, and not an athlete
in triumph. In contrast to the Atlanta blast, the bomb was placed in an unsecured public
area while the Munich attack involved penetrated security and was aimed at the athletes
themselves and the nation they represented.
Munich's attack though has prevented other similar situations from happening. Since 1972,
the general public has submitted to security searches in airports, arenas and other
public events. Living with the possibility of terrorism has made everyone just a little
bit more aware of what could happen. With a society as violent as the one existing now,
the Olympics are fortunate that they have only been threatened with terrorism twice. But
if society keeps progressing the way it is right now, terrorism in more sporting events
will be inevitable.