Remembering the 1972 Olympics: Mark Spitz talks of tragic video games

American swimmer Mark Spitz received gold on the 1972 Munich Olympic Video games, an occasion ceaselessly marked by tragedy when terrorists killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympics crew. 

Spitz can be Jewish. 

“I do not assume there was a lot dialog about being a Jewish athlete earlier than the Olympics began. There actually wasn’t any speak about the truth that Dachau, a focus camp, was only a few miles away from the swim corridor and the monitor stadium,” mentioned Spitz forward of Monday’s fiftieth anniversary of the assaults. 

“I believe this was a giant popping out of the trendy age on the time, to point out, you realize, (…) that is the brand new Olympics, that is the place the world is at this time. Little did anyone know, every week into the Olympic Video games, this was going to occur.”

The American athlete additionally felt that it fell on him to speak concerning the tragic occasions that befell in the course of the video games.

“So, I used to be thrust into a singular state of affairs. In a single sense, was I a spokesperson? For who? You realize, to be a Jew, nicely, that is type of an attention-grabbing place to place some strain on anyone who’s 22 years previous, I wasn’t a rabbi. I wasn’t concerned with an knowledgeable set of instruments and data about numerous issues that mainly reply questions in a means which will have been anticipated of me. I did one of the best that I might on the time,” he mentioned. 

“At this time it is nonetheless the identical reply, which is, it was a horrible tragedy for not solely these athletes, however for the Olympic motion and for the households particularly and we’re nonetheless speaking about it at this time.”

Spitz later went on to win seven Olympic gold medals on the Munich video games, displaying his athletic agility and energy regardless of the fear assault.