When sport lost its innocence

Black September dragged sport into politics in a way not seen before or since

MUNICH, Germany -- There was a feeling worldwide of "innocence lost" when Palestinian gunmen stormed the Munich 1972 Olympic Village and took members of the Israeli team hostage.

For the first time world sport, previously seen as a chance for nations to come together and compete in a spirit of goodwill, had become a victim of terrorism, bringing with it a brutal reminder of the world's harsher realities.

Although September 11, 2001 has eclipsed September 5-6, 1972 as the world's blackest terror plot, the hostage-taking remains locked in the histories of Germany, the Mideast and sport.

The 24 hours of high drama were to be played out on live TV across the globe as the Olympics became embroiled in the troubles in the Mideast and politics of the gun.

By modern standards security for Munich 1972 -- which was advertised as "The Games of Peace and Joy" -- was lax with only a single small fence ringing the village.

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Eight armed Palestinians, calling themselves the Black September group, sneaked into the Olympics Village and headed for the Israeli sleeping quarters.

Dressed in black tracksuits, they had hidden Kalashnikovs and hand grenades in their kit bags.

Shortly after 4 a.m., wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund heard sounds outside the Israeli team quarters and opened the door -- to stare down the barrels of terrorists' machine guns.

Gutfreund's warning shouts helped some of the team to escape through windows but in the ensuing struggle two Israelis were killed.

Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano both died from gunshot wounds.

With nine Israelis as hostages, the captors demanded safe passage out of Germany and the release of 200 Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Israel's Prime Minister Golda Meir said "no deal" and the world watched and waited.

Arrangements were made to move the terrorists and their hostages by helicopters to the nearby Furstenfeldbruck military airport where a bungled rescue attempt would lead to the deaths of all nine hostages, five of the Palestinians and a German policeman.

At Furstenfeldbruck, a Boeing 707 was to take the terrorists and their hostages to Cairo, Egypt.

Sharpshooters were supposed to open fire as the terrorists approached the plane, killing the leaders and hoping the rest would surrender.

But the German authorities thought there were only five terrorists and so had only deployed five snipers and their weapons were not equipped with either scopes or night-visions -- so they could not see their targets.

The terrorists reached the 707 only to find no crew on board -- and realised they had been tricked.

As they turned and ran to the helicopters, both police and terrorists opened fire with the Israeli athletes, their hands and feet bound, still trapped in the aircraft.

During the shootout grenades were thrown into the helicopters, killing all the hostages, and when the gunfire stopped five Palestinians and a policeman were also dead.

The Munich attack was targeted and well-planned and tarnished the image of the Olympic movement.

And those Olympics -- which would have been remembered for the athletic exploits of Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut. -- will instead forever conjure up images of hooded gunmen and flags at half mast.

-- CNN's Bruce Burkardt contributed to this report

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