Terrorism And Security In The Olympics Essay — страница 2

  • Просмотров 187
  • Скачиваний 5
  • Размер файла 16
    Кб

opportunity the West Germans had to prevent the Arabs from leaving the country. As the first group of Arabs and hostages walked to the jet, shots rang out. No one is certain who opened fire first (be it the West German Sharpshooters or the Arab commandos). However when the West Germans began firing, or firing back, that was the beginning of the shooting of the Israeli hostages. The second commando group had barely left their helicopter. One commando fired into the helicopter, another threw a grenade into it, killing the second group of hostages. In the end all nine Israeli hostages had been killed, five Arab commandos had been killed, and three had been wounded. The remaining Israeli team decided to leave the Olympic games but the Committee did not cancel the games following the

murders. The games were put back on after only a twenty four-hour break period. This left the world shocked and offended. Israel?s call to halt the Games was left unnoticed, for no other Olympic team joined them in their boycott. However five other athletes, non-Jewish, left the Games for reasons of conscience. Germany?s hopes for peaceful games, devoid of politics died too. But the Olympic spirit was too strong to snuff out. Twenty five years later a bombing occurs at Centennial Olympic Park, where thousands of visitors had gathered on the ninth day of the 1996 Summer Olympics. The bomb had been placed near the main stage in the park. When it went off it injured one hundred and eleven people and killed one, Alice Hawthorne, a mother who had traveled to Atlanta with her daughter

to see the Olympics. This incident also caused a Turkish cameraman to die of a heart attack responding to the blast. The bomb was improvised and homemade. ?The fatal bombing in Atlanta was a terrorist attack aimed at thousands of innocent persons gathered at the Olympic Park,? said the director of the FBI. Once again, another Olympics are squandered in the shadow of terrorism. The bombing at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta was not the first time an Olympic Games had been disrupted by terrorism. The Munich disaster had happened in 1972. The lasting images of those Olympic Games are that of a terrorist in a ski mask, and not an athlete in triumph. In contrast to the Atlanta blast, the bomb was placed in an unsecured public area while the Munich attack involved penetrated

security and was aimed at the athletes themselves and the nation they represented. Munich?s attack though has prevented other similar situations from happening. Since 1972, the general public has submitted to security searches in airports, arenas and other public events. Living with the possibility of terrorism has made everyone just a little bit more aware of what could happen. With a society as violent as the one existing now, the Olympics are fortunate that they have only been threatened with terrorism twice. But if society keeps progressing the way it is right now, terrorism in more sporting events will be inevitable. 353