IOC PRESIDENT JACQUES Rogge has dismissed calls for a minute’s silence to mark the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics.
There have been ongoing calls to mark the tragedy with a minute’s silence during the opening ceremony of the London Games but Rogge is against the idea.
“We feel that the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident,” said the 70-year-old, who will step down from his post next year after 12 years in the job.
“We feel that we are able to give a very strong homage and remembrance to the athletes within the sphere of the International Olympic Committee, we feel that we are going to do exactly the same at the exact place of the killings at the military airport on the fifth of September, the exact day.”
He added the IOC will instead pay homage to the athletes in Fuerstenfeldbruck, Germany.
Eleven Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered by Palestinian gunmen at Germany’s second summer Olympics in 1972.
And despite US President Barack Obama joining the growing list of people calling for the silence, Rogge is standing firm.
“We are going to pay homage to the athletes of course, as we have always done in the past and will do in the future,” he said.“We plan to assist the meeting organised by the National Olympic Committee of Israel and there will be a delegation there.
“We will also be present on the exact day of the killings on the 5 September, at the military airport of Fuerstenfeldbruck where the killings actually happened and that is what we are going to do.”
