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This morning, stopped everything to listen to NPR's interview of Frank Shorter, Olympic runner, speak about his experience of living in the Olympic Village in 1972.
He gazed in wonder, as I did, at the strange visual of first, one man, then two men with black covered faces (probably black socks with holes cut out) who held rifles on the small patio inside the Olympic Village. This patio was very close to the public walkway that almost everyone used to enter the Olympic Stadium. Frank was inside the village. I was outside the village on my way to the stadium. I walked slowly then stopped as only a few others did. Most folks kept walking. Like Frank, I had never seen anything like this before. This might have been one of the first, or among the first terrorist attacks. Frank was an easy target and I was. Did we or most of the people outside or inside the Olympic Village on this beautiful morning know what was going on inside? Not at all.
Most of you now know the sad story that unfolded that day and evening. So sad for the Israeli Team, for Germany, for the future Olympics and for most of the world.
Many of you do not know that when the terrorists entered the Olympic Village and climbed over the fence late the night before or very early that morning, they blended in with the team members from other countries who were out late partying. Even the nice guys on other teams helped lift their duffle bags over the fence, of course not realizing what was inside those bags. (Yes the same kind of stuff that was symbolically placed in a huge pile, and made into a man made mountain, part of the Olympic Park. Buried guns, tanks and ammunition from WWII but covered with greenery symbolized "no more war")
He gazed in wonder, as I did, at the strange visual of first, one man, then two men with black covered faces (probably black socks with holes cut out) who held rifles on the small patio inside the Olympic Village. This patio was very close to the public walkway that almost everyone used to enter the Olympic Stadium. Frank was inside the village. I was outside the village on my way to the stadium. I walked slowly then stopped as only a few others did. Most folks kept walking. Like Frank, I had never seen anything like this before. This might have been one of the first, or among the first terrorist attacks. Frank was an easy target and I was. Did we or most of the people outside or inside the Olympic Village on this beautiful morning know what was going on inside? Not at all.
Most of you now know the sad story that unfolded that day and evening. So sad for the Israeli Team, for Germany, for the future Olympics and for most of the world.
Many of you do not know that when the terrorists entered the Olympic Village and climbed over the fence late the night before or very early that morning, they blended in with the team members from other countries who were out late partying. Even the nice guys on other teams helped lift their duffle bags over the fence, of course not realizing what was inside those bags. (Yes the same kind of stuff that was symbolically placed in a huge pile, and made into a man made mountain, part of the Olympic Park. Buried guns, tanks and ammunition from WWII but covered with greenery symbolized "no more war")
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