Munich 1972: Sport, politics and tragedy
Abstract
This dissertation argues that at the 1972 Munich Olympics politics intervened into the Games on an unprecedented scale. This development was indeed ironic since Munich organizers had consciously attempted to stage Games—“Happy Games,” as they were touted-in which politics would not be a factor. Planners hoped the Games would project a kind and tolerant Germany. To produce such an image, organizers scaled back security, designed an Olympic cultural program that was exceedingly progressive, organized opening and closing ceremonies devoid of military symbolism and even adopted a pastel color scheme that contrasted with the blacks and reds of Nazism. When a band of Palestinian extremists kidnapped and then killed eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team eleven days into the Games, unsavory memories resurfaced, undercutting organizers' best intentions and exposing a gap of cultural understanding between the West and the Arab world. In the United States, anti-Arab sentiment found expression in negative characterizations, particularly in editorial cartoons. Americans also read the Munich attack in a Vietnam context, which raised nettlesome questions about America's motives in Southeast Asia. Yet even before the Olympics began, politics were an issue. To protest the inclusion of white-supremacist Rhodesia, African nations threatened to boycott if Rhodesia were allowed to compete. The proposed boycott reverberated in numerous circles around the globe, highlighting attitudes about race and appropriate protest measures. After two African-American athletes ignored Olympic protocol on the victory podium, racial issues reappeared. The Cold War also informed how the Munich Games were watched and understood—even generating, as was the case with the USA-USSR gold-medal basketball game, half truths and misinformation that explained why the United States lost the controversial contest. But many Americans also saw United States Olympic setbacks and failures as indicative of what they perceived was a troubled and declining nation. This perception spawned unprecedented reform of the USOC and how the nation selected and trained its Olympic athletes.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Roberts, Purdue University.
Subject Area
American studies|American history
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