1972 Summer Olympics

The Games of the XX Olympiad were held in 1972 in Munich, Germany. In the bid to organise the Olympics, Munich beat out Detroit, Madrid and Montreal.

Highlights

• Mark Spitz set seven World Records to win a record seven gold medals in one Olympics, bringing his total to nine.
• Olga Korbut, a tiny Soviet gymnast, became a media star after winning a gold medal in the Team Competition event, failing to win in the individual all-around after a fall, and finally winning two gold medals in the Balance Beam and the Floor Exercise events.
• This was the first Summer Olympiad to have a officially named mascot: Waldi the Dachshund dog.
• Lasse Virén of Finland won the 5000 and 10000 m (the latter after a fall), a feat he would repeat in the 1976 Summer Olympics.
• Valeri Borzov won both the 100 m and 200 m in track and field.
• Also in track and field, two African-American 400 m runners, Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett, acted disrespectfully on the medal stand, twirling their medals (gold and silver, respectively) and joking with one another as the Star-Spangled Banner was being played during the award ceremony. They were banned from the Olympics for life, as were Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the 1968 Summer Olympics.
• Australian swimmer Shane Gould wins three gold medals and two silver.
• Handball (last held in 1936) and Archery (last held in 1920) return as Olympic sports after a long absence. The US men's team consisted of a mish mash of athletes that were proficent at their respective sports. Their opening game consisted of competing against the Yugoslavian team that was highly ranked. The US team lost but almost pulled an upset.
• Slalom canoeing is held for the first time at the Olympics.
• Dan Gable wins the gold medal in wrestling without having a single point scored against him.
• For the first time, the Olympic Oath is also taken by a representative of the referees.
• In basketball, the United States' Olympic winning streak, which started in 1936, was ended by the Soviet Union team's close victory in the final game. The last three seconds, during which US athletes missed their victory, were replayed two times before the Aleksander Belov's winning throw, due to faults by referees. US protest, filed after the match was denied by FIBA and the Soviet Union athletes were awarded gold medals. US team refused to accept the silver medal. http://www.usabasketball.com/history/moly_1972.html
• On September 11, a small plane was stolen in Stuttgart and authorities received information that Arab militants were planning to drop a bomb on the final ceremonies. IOC officials and Chancellor Willy Brandt, who were attending the ceremonies, were informed. Defense minister Georg Leber had two fighter planes follow the stolen plane, with the intent of shooting it down should it approach Munich. Radar contact to the plane was lost. A short while later, radar contact to an unknown plane was established, but it turned out to be a civilian passenger aircraft. The stolen plane was never found.
• Badminton and Water Ski are the demo sports.
• The Olympiapark, based on designs by Frei Otto, has become a landmark.