Israeli's widow seeks high-profile memorial
IOC president attends non-official ceremony for slain in Munich
OLYMPICS NOTEBOOK
updated 4:40 a.m. ET Aug. 21, 2004
ATHENS, Greece - International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge was visibly moved but didn’t reply to an emotional plea for higher-profile commemoration of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed by terrorists at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich.
Ankie Spitzer, widow of slain fencing coach Andrei Spitzer, made the request during a memorial ceremony Thursday at the home of the Israeli ambassador to Greece.
“Why is it that tonight we are here? While immensely grateful for the hospitality of the Israeli ambassador, we should have this memorial in front of all athletes sponsored by the IOC because this is not an Israeli issue. It concerns the whole Olympic family,” she said.
On Sept. 5, 1972, eight members of a Palestinian terrorist group climbed an unguarded fence at the Olympic village in Munich. When the ordeal was over, 11 Israelis, five of their captors and a German police officer were dead.
Rogge spoke briefly, saying the IOC “is expressing its greatest and most solemn homage to your husband and our brothers.”
Rogge, accompanied by former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, became the first sitting IOC president to attend the memorial. Similar ceremonies have been held by the Israeli team at earlier Olympics.
Members of the Israeli Olympic team, Israeli IOC officials, Ukrainian pole vault star Sergei Bubka, Greek government ministers and Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyianni also attended.
Rate the refs
New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin was asked about the subject all basketball coaches fear to address publicly: The officials.
It was an especially touchy situation because the Kiwis had just beaten Serbia and Montenegro 90-87 in a game that featured a disputed call with 20 seconds left. New Zealand was the beneficiary of an offensive foul called against Milos Vujanic that set up the winning basket Thursday.
Replays showed the call should have been against New Zealand’s Mark Dickel for holding, and Baldwin was asked about it.
With a visibly upset Serbia and Montenegro coach Zeljko Obradovic sitting just three seats away in the interview room, Baldwin reached a diplomatic level usually reserved for embassies rather than arenas.
“It’s endemic in the world of being a coach that you’re in an adversarial relationship during the course of the game with the referees,” he said.
“All coaches wish there was a better standard of refereeing, but we also wish there was a greater standard of playing for our own teams and other teams, and I wish I was a better coach,” he said.
Sharing the wealth
When it was his turn to speak at a dinner celebrating the three medals won by American road cyclists in the time trial, Tyler Hamilton said he wanted to share his gold with everyone in the room.
And he did. Hamilton removed the medal from his neck and handed it to the person seated nearest him at the table.
“Don’t just hold it,” Hamilton said. “You’ve got to put it on — all of you.”
About 40 riders, relatives, U.S. cycling executives and others gathered at the team hotel until early Thursday. Hamilton won gold, Dede Barry won the women’s silver and Bobby Julich won the men’s bronze.
“Everyone in this room has something to do with what we did,” said Hamilton, who slept with the medal at bedside. “Everyone’s work went into this.”
Let's qualify that
Beach volleyball’s governing body likes the way its 18-month Olympic qualification process turned out this year. Others don’t.
The FIVB chose the 24-team field — with a maximum of two teams per country — based on each pair’s top eight finishes on the international tour from the start of 2003 through last July.
Karch Kiraly, the sport’s winningest player, and other Americans would rather have held their own trials, as the United States did in 1996.
“Results that teams get over a year ago shouldn’t matter for the Olympics,” said Kiraly, a beach gold medalist with Kent Steffes in 1996 at Atlanta. “Trials are the ideal preparation. That would be where everybody could prove how they will handle the pressure of a do-or-die event, as the Olympics is.”
Sinjin Smith, a former U.S. star who’s now head of the FIVB’s beach council, said the organization wants to prevent teams from qualifying based on one lucky win.
“One event doesn’t tell you who the best team is,” said Smith. “You’re ensured to find that out over a long period of time.”
Price police
State inspectors, performing Olympic spot checks, have referred three Athens merchants for prosecution, fined another four, and issued hundreds of warnings in a bid to crack down on price gouging.
Inspections were carried out in the city’s historic Plaka district and archaeological sites where many outlets face price controls. Nearly 3,000 unannounced inspections were carried out on street market stalls and stores in the Plaka, a popular spot for visitors.
Gas scare
The fire department evacuated the wing of a luxury seaside resort that is housing Olympic officials and sponsors after a gas leak.
The hotel remained closed for a several hours while firefighters emptied a tank containing cooking gas, which was placed in a container truck. The faulty tank was replaced.
© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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