THE 1972 Munich Olympic Games go down as one of the darkest in the history of the Games.
This newspaper ran an editorial coverage of the massacre of nine Israeli Olympian athletes killed by Arabs.
It titled the coverage as “The day sports became war”.
“Arab terrorists killed nine Olympic hostages yesterday when German police opened fire while the Arabs were trying to escape at an airport near Munich,” this newspaper said.
“But the International Olympic Committee decided against cancelling the rest of the Games events.
“As police fired on them, the terrorists blew up a helicopter which carried them and the hostages from the Olympic village where they shot two other Israeli athletes earlier.”
At least 18 people died including a policeman in the crossfire.
While German newspapers said the police botched their job, the overall grim fact was that 11 young men died when they went to represent their country in a sports competition.
Fiji had two athletes, Usaia Sotutu and Samuela Yavala at the games.
On September 7, The Fiji Times ran a picture of them with the Duke of Edinburgh with the headline: “A smile for the Fiji men at the Games”. The picture was taken at a reception in Munich for Commonwealth Olympic athletes. The two also met Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
The two athletes wore sulu, long sleeved shirts and ties.
The Duke asked them about life in the Olympic village and said: “I hope you survive.”
