by Chris Pearce

Created on: April 30, 2008   Last Updated: December 06, 2008

The Olympics Games have unfortunately been the setting of a number of ugly scenes, incidents of political opportunism, and athletes so desperate to win that they resort to cheating. I have tried to pick what I see as the four worst or most publicized incidents, across a wide period and representative of several types of worst moments: terrorism, boycotts, drugs, and political propaganda.

First place, or is that last place, would have to go to the "Munich massacre" at the Summer Olympics in 1972 in Munich, West Germany. Israeli team members were taken hostage by Black September, a splinter group of the Fatah organization of Yasser Arafat. With World War II a distant memory, a joyous time was being had by all, and security was quite relaxed. Concerns were expressed by the Israeli team over security but little was done. In the middle of the night, eight members of Black September climbed a six foot wire fence and entered two apartments of Israeli team members. Several burly wrestlers and weightlifters escaped or tried to escape. Two Israelis were killed at this stage.

Nine hostages were taken and were restrained in the apartments. The attackers wanted the release of 234 Palestinians and others who were in jail in Israel. However, the Israeli government refused to negotiate. The German government offered unlimited money for the release of the hostages, but the kidnappers wouldn't budge. Negotiators were able to buy time by somehow convincing the terrorists their demands were being looked at. The attackers then demanded to be taken to Cairo.

There was a feigned agreement and about 16 hours after the drama had started, the kidnappers and their hostages were taken by bus to two helicopters that were to take them to an airport. Authorities had planned an ambush at the airport but snipers were outnumbered. The kidnappers took the four helicopter pilots hostage too, and a shoot-out started between the terrorists and authorities when the attackers discovered the plane, a Boeing 727, that was to take them to Cairo was empty.

Armored personnel carriers were headed for the site but they got stuck in traffic and didn't arrive until midnight. When back-up finally arrived, the kidnappers turned on the hostages and shot several of them dead. One of the terrorists threw a grenade into a helicopter, blowing it up along with several more Israeli hostages inside. Another kidnapper allegedly shot dead the remaining five hostages, who were in the other helicopter, although what happened

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