Tag: olympics

There’s a starman
Waiting in the sky
He’d like to come and meet us
But he thinks he’d blow our minds

There’s a starman
Waiting in the sky
He’s told us not to blow it
‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile

He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie

David Bowie 1972

Starman was a poptastic sensational top 10 hit during the summer of 1972 Munich Olympics

Baron Pierre de Coubertin is credited with revising the modern Olympics as we know it today. Although the ancient Games were staged in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC through 393 AD, it took 1503 years for the Olympics to return. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who presented the idea in 1894. His original thought was to unveil the modern Games in 1900 in his native Paris, but delegates from 34 countries were so enthralled with the concept that they convinced him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the first host.

Olympism is a philosophy that seeks to blend sport with culture, education, and international cooperation. It emphasizes the joy of effort, the educational value of good examples, social responsibility, and respect for universal ethical principles. The ultimate goal is to use sport as a means of promoting the development of humankind and preserving human dignity.

Why? Munich ’72 was my first real Olympics. I remember Bob Beamon’s astonishing long jump world record and Tommie Smith and John Carlos protest at their medal ceremony at Mexico ’68 but that may well be retrospective as I was only 5 years old. The Munich 1972 Olympics I was 9 years old and with handy European timings, it was my first opportunity to follow the games kind of first hand. Leading up to the games, the BBC showed films made by Leni Riefenstahl which I found fascinating but was all German propaganda before the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Her films were real artistry and showed how beautiful the human form is when performing sporting tasks. My dear old Dad a WWII vet, warned me about the fascist ideology connected with those films but I was only interested in the movement and techniques about the sports.

The principles of Olympism include the idea that the ability to participate in sports is a basic human right. Olympism emphasizes that individuals should have equal access to sports without discrimination and that these activities should be done in a spirit of fairness and camaraderie. “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together” is the modern Olympics motto but it could easily be Let the children lose it, Let the children use it, Let all the children boogie, as Bowie wrote and sang.

ESSO petrol garages gave away books and stickers to fill them with purchases. I, fortunately, lived across the road from an ESSO garage and I was often given a handful of stickers to get rid of me and to the extent that I nearly completed two books. The books were a great insight into the games for a novice like me. There were sections on all the modern Olympics from Athens 1896 to Mexico 1968. All the main players from those were covered like Jesse Owens, Fanny Blankers-Koen, Al Oerter, Paavo Nurmi, and my favourite, Emil Zatopek. He won Gold in the 5000m, 10000m and marathon in a week at Helsinki in 1952. I could tell you when and where all the Olympics were held from Athens to Mexico thanks to ESSO.

1972 was my first experience of an opening ceremony, I was 9 years old and loved sport but this was too much for an Olympic novice like me. Marching up and down and the national teams being presented to the crowd was just too boring. Watching the opening ceremony this evening from Paris 2024 was different boring, like watching a Pink Floyd video. Far too arty farty. What I was really looking too was the action and competition and at the time and looking back there were some real superstars performing. American swimmer, Mark Spitz won an incredible seven Gold medals and breaking World Records in all finals was the pinnacle. Sadly as a Jew, he was advised to leave Munich before the closing ceremony due to events. Olga Kobut, from Russia, was the darling of the games with her amazing gymnastic performances and three golds. On the track Finland’s Lasse Viren won 5000m and 10000m gold after epic performances against Belgian Emiel Puttemans and Russian Valeriy Borzov won the sprint double of 100m and 200m. British Pentathlete, Mary Peters won Gold and that fabulous performance helped to ease the tensions in Northern Ireland for a while.

The world stopped on 5th-6th September when eight members of Palestine’s Black September infiltrated the athlete’s village and took nine members of the Israeli team hostage. They thought the Israeli athletes were sprinters who would offer little resistance but they attacked weight lifters and wrestlers. The siege went on for hours and was televised live. The games were suspended. I was so scared that this could happen in what should be a safe environment to celebrate sport, competition and the vitality of youth. Sadly the hostage ended badly as all the Israeli athletes were killed in a botched rescue attempt. Five Black September terrorists were killed and three arrested only to be released a month later in a prisoner exchange. In total seventeen men were killed six Israeli coaches, five athletes, five terrorists and a West German policeman. This, of course, was terrible but at the time the World was living at a during a period of terrorism and hijacking. I was only 9 years old and very sad after all the expectation of my ESSO book and the heroes in the pages. Olympism failed in 1972.