The reason given by the IOC to the families of the Israelis slain during the '72 Games (second story below) is all the reason I need to not want to watch any more of the current crop of games than is absolutely necessary. And quite frankly, none of it is must-see TV.
The IOC is run by a bunch of human garbage. The sports low light of the week, perhaps the decade.
from foxsports.com
11 slain Israelis remembered at Munich memorial - News | FOX Sports on MSN:
"The families reject the official reasons they've been given for why this cannot happen. At Montreal in 1976, they said they were told the reason was that the Arabs would leave. At Barcelona in 1992, it was an unwillingness to bring politics into the games. At Atlanta in 1996, the reason was protocol. At Athens in 2004, organizers said it was not the appropriate time.
Just before the memorial, sponsored by the British Jewish community, Prime Minister David Cameron expressed support for honoring the slain Israelis.
''As the world comes together in London to celebrate the games and the values it represents, it is right that we should stop and remember the 11 Israeli athletes who so tragically lost their lives when those values came under attack in Munich 40 years ago,'' Cameron told an audience prior to the main memorial service. ''It was a truly shocking act of evil. A crime against the Jewish people. A crime against humanity. A crime the world must never forget.''"
'via Blog this'
from foxnews.com
In 1996, I, along with other Munich orphans and three of the widows, were invited for the first time to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Before the Opening Ceremony, we met with Alex Gilady. Gilady has been a member of the IOC's Radio and Television Commission since 1984 and has been the senior vice president of NBC Sports since 1996.
I have known Mr. Gilady since I was a kid; in fact, I grew up with his daughter. He had been supportive in the past regarding our plea for a moment of silence during the Opening Ceremonies, so we arrived with high hopes. Gilady informed us that a moment of silence was not possible because if the IOC had a moment of silence for the Israeli athletes, they would also have to do the same for the Palestinians who died at the Olympics in 1972.
My mother said, "But no Palestinian athletes died."
Gilady responded, "Well, there were Palestinians who died at the 1972 Olympics."
I heard one of the widows say to Gilady, "Are you equating the murder of my husband to the terrorists that killed him?"
Silence.
Then Ilana Romano burst out with a cry that has haunted me to this day. She screamed at Gilady,
"How DARE you! You KNOW what they did to my husband! They let him lay there for hours, dying slowly, and then finished him off by castrating him and shoving it in his mouth, ALEX!"
I looked at Gilady's face as he sat there, stone cold with no emotion. This man knew these athletes personally. This man led the Israeli media delegation at the 1972 Olympics and saw this atrocity first hand. This man saw my father's dead, naked body thrown out front of the Olympic Village for all the world to see.
Without a hint of empathy, Gilady excused himself from our meeting.
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