Historical live blog about the 1972 Olympics:The athletes don’t come with their heads hanging down, they come dancing and laughing
The athletes at the closing ceremony of the 1972 Olympic Games
(Photo: imago sport photo service)
The closing ceremony begins with a reduced program, instead of happy songs, Beethoven is played. Nevertheless, the athletes celebrate exuberantly – not everyone thinks that’s appropriate. Follow the end of the 1972 games in the historical live blog.
By Barbara Galaktionow and Lisa Sonnabend
50 years ago, Munich was all about the Olympics. The city shows the world a cheerful face – until the attack by Palestinian assassins on the Israeli team of light-heartedness on September 5th put an abrupt end to it. The SZ documents the events surrounding the games between August 25 and September 11, 1972. The texts are based on conversations with contemporary witnesses, literature, documentation, film recordings and the evaluation of numerous newspaper articles from the SZ archive (here is an overview of the contemporary witnesses and sources).
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