“Horror of the Massacre of 11…”: US Swimming Legend Recalls the Terrifying Attack After 50 Years of Munich Olympics

Mark Spitz is counted as one of the extraordinary swimmers America has produced. He won seven gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympics and became the first swimmer to do so. Besides that, all the medals were won with world record timings. After this, anyone would assume this must be the best day of his life. Unfortunately, it was not the case.

Although the day was about his excellence, the night became a nightmare for him. The same night, a Palestinian group attacked the Olympic Village called Black September, which further killed Israeli athletes and took 9 of them hostage.

Mark’s life drastically changed after that incident

Above all, for an athlete to see such a violent environment is horribly painful. Moreover, hearing news of fellow athletes getting killed is terrifying. “Less than 24 hours after winning seven gold medals, I experienced the horror of the massacre of 11 Israeli team members, Mark further added.

He just had the best day of his life and did not even get a chance to celebrate it. Moreover, it turned into a day he would want to forget. Later, on 5th September 1972, eight armed members of the Palestinian group entered the village in tracksuits. They were carrying assault rifles and grenades with them in a gym bag.

Mark Spitz recalls the tragic day on its 50 years of completion

The attackers moved to 31 Connolly Street, where the Israeli team was accommodated. A wrestling coach, Moshe Weinberg, and a weightlifter, Yossef Romano were killed. Whereas the terrorist group took nine Israelis hostage. The next day, in a disastrous rescue operation, the other nine athletes were also killed at a military airport near Munich.

That must have been a difficult time for Mark. On recollecting his thoughts, Mark said, “My coach and I were put the backseat of a car and they told me to crouch down and they put this blanket over me. After about five minutes they told me to sit up, and we were driven to the airport and then we were on a plane to London.

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After winning record seven gold medals, this tragic tragedy changed his life completely. He couldn’t find the dedication that he had before this incident. Although, after such a successful season, he had many other offers to follow up.

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Later, he worked as an analyst for television and the national coverage of swimming events. He made his life more worthy when he met Nelson Mandela in 2000, and his focus on life changed from then. He joined Laureus World Sports aiming to make a better community and has been doing it for the past 22 years.