Munich

I was 9 years old and was beside myself with excitement as my first remembered Olympic Games began in Munich in 1972. I had the souvenir scrapbooks and photo albums. I knew about quite a few of the athletes who would become household names such as Lasse Viren and Valery Borzov, foreign and very different, yet compelling human specimens. It was quite a fairytale. 
Suddenly there was the grim interruption of harsh adult reality. Black September Palestinian gunmen stormed the Israeli Team hotel and took hostages. Ultimately the gunmen killed 11 members of the Israeli team. 2 women were widowed as a result. The Games themselves continued. Terrorism should not be allowed to triumph. I cannot fault that decision.

One of those widows, Ankie Spitzer, has been seeking to persuade the Olympic authorities and LOCOG to incorporate a minute's silence into the London 2012 Opening ceremony. The IOC and LOCOG have repeatedly refused. They have refused at every previous Olympics as well. They say that the Opening Ceremony is not the time for commemoration. That refusal was confirmed by IOC President Jacques Rogge today. This is in spite of a campaign which attracted worldwide support and included the backing of President Barack Obama. The US Government stated that "We absolutely support the campaign for a moment of silence to honor the Israeli athletes killed in Munich".
Conversely, Mitt Romney meanwhile sat on his hands. He is a guest of the IOC at the London Games in reward for resolving difficulties with the Salt Lake City Games debacle. He is unwilling to alienate his hosts or court controversy. His position is typical of spineless, self interested politicians.
My position has nothing to do with support for any general Israeli position. It is about decency and respect. 
The Olympic Games were resurrected in 1896 to celebrate an ideal. The Olympic Games resurrected a tradition known as the 'Olympic Truce'. In Ancient Greece rival kings agreed to suspend hostilities during the Games so that athletes could travel in total safety, participate and then return home.

 In Munich that ideal was shattered and people lost their lives. The Israeli athletes were not able to benefit from that 'Truce'. Eleven did not return safely. 

The Israeli team had overcome the trauma of the Holocaust and nonetheless attended the Munich Games in the country of their principal oppressors. Basic decency demands that those who perished are honoured. In my view this should be an integral part of every Opening Ceremony (lest we forget).

The IOC and LOCOG plan a separate ceremony away from the Games venues. They lack the courage to take a stand on a controversial issue. That's no surprise at all. Nowadays the Games is dominated by unedifying commercial considerations. Saccharine schmaltz predominates, lest offence is caused.

The IOC claims that their goal is to 'protect all athletes' and that they are 'searching for peaceful and diplomatic solutions to conflicts around the world'. 

The Olympic Games is about the glory of participation.
On this issue all glory has been surrendered and the IOC has abdicated its moral responsibilities.

UPDATE
Not all was lost. The Italian team staged a silent vigil outside the Israeli team's hotel.
French 4 x 100m relay swimmer Fabien Gilot displayed a tattoo אני כלום בלעדיהם - in English: I am nothing without them. 
His grandmother perished at Auschwitz.