No. 2 Munich (1972)
Born in the ruins of Nazi Germany, the Federal Republic was very cognizant and wary of its historical burden. Given the opportunity to host the 1972 Summer Olympics in the Bavarian city of Munich, the country was determined to showcase a new Germany free of its diabolical Nazi past, in the very city that gave birth to Adolf Hitler's political career. For the first 10 days, it was a dream Olympics. Mark Spitz, an American Jew, electrified the Games by winning seven gold medals while setting seven world records in the pool. The atmosphere was remarkably relaxed, absent nearly any security presence in and around the venues, and particularly at the athletes' village. The Munich Games were erasing memories of the Berlin Games of 1936 and going down as the most wondrous Olympics ever. Then in an instant, it became the most tragic ever. In the early morning of September 5, terrorists from the Palestinian group of Black September burst into the Israeli quarters, killing two and seizing nine athletes and coaches as hostages. The terrorists demanded the release of over 200 Palestinians held by Israel, which was rejected out of hand by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. The West German government declined assistance from Israel as the crisis careened toward a fiery end at the Furstenfeldbruck NATO airfield in the wee hours of September 6. With no special forces organization to summon, the West Germans instead hastily picked a few sharpshooters out of the Bavarian police ranks. They also underestimated the number of terrorists - eight instead of five. An exchange of gunfire ensued at the airfield, with five terrorists and one German policeman killed. During the battle, the Israeli hostages were gunned down in one helicopter and blown up by a hand grenade in another. American television audience was informed of the awful outcome by ABC's Jim McKay, who summed it up: "They're all gone." The Games would go on, under orders from IOC head Avery Brundage and at the request of the Israeli government. The remaining Israeli team withdrew, and a number of athletes of Jewish descent were given special protection - Spitz was whisked home to the U.S. and missed the closing ceremonies. In the aftermath, the three surviving terrorists were released a little than a month later as part of an exchange for a hijacking - one that many suspected was a conspiracy between the Germans and Palestinians. The trio would spend the remainder of their lives on the run, as Israel unleashed "Operation Wrath of God" that hunted down Palestinian terrorists and their minders across the globe. Humiliated by the tragedy, West Germany would set up its own special forces unit, the GSG 9, which within four years had its own encounter with Palestinian terrorists and this time, emerged with a triumphant outcome.
