RIO DE JANEIRO (EJP)—“We waited for this for 44 years, to have this remembrance and recognition of our loved ones who were killed so brutally in Munich,” said Ankie Spitzer, widow of slain fencing coach Andre Spitzer, after International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach led a mourning ceremony for the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
On September 5, 1972, members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage at the athletes’ village in Munich by Palestinian terrorists from the Black September terror organization.
At the ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, ahead of this year’s Olympics, Bach read out the names of each of the 11 Israelis and the German policeman who died in the worst terror attack in Olympic history.
With two widows of the victims and several current Israeli team members looking on, Bach said the Munich massacre “was an attack not only on our fellow Olympians but also an assault on the values that the Olympic Village stands for.”
Bach led a minute of silence during the inauguration of a “place of mourning” in the athletes’ village in Rio de Janeiro. He hugged Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, the widows of fencing coach Andre Spitzer and weightlifter Yossef Romano.
Families of the Munich victims have campaigned for years for greater public recognition for those murdered from the International Olympic Committee.
The IOC faced criticism for refusing to hold a moment of silence for the Israeli victims during the opening of the 2012 London Games, 40 years after the attack.
The mourning area inaugurated Wednesday is located in a quiet outdoor spot in the village where athletes can remember family, friends and others who have passed away.