Munich tragedy ended sport's innocence: Spitz

Winning seven Olympic gold medals changed Mark Spitz's life.

The killing of 11 Israeli athletes just hours after the American swimmer completed his record achievement in Munich changed sport for ever.

"It was the end of innocence," Spitz said in an interview.

"Today, security is much tighter but the Games have lost a sense of spontaneity, a sense of the whole world coming together in peaceful competition."

Spitz had won two golds at the 1968 Games in Mexico City and, while determined to win more medals in Munich, he had also wanted to enjoy his Olympic experience.

To celebrate his seventh gold in the final race of the swimming competition, the medley relay, he went out for dinner with two journalist friends.

Getting up early the next day to attend yet another news conference, the American walked right past the building on Connollystrasse where Palestinian gunmen were holding the Israelis hostage.

"As it turned out, the terrorists had already murdered two of the Israeli athletes, but no one knew that then," Spitz told Reuters. "In Munich, despite official statements to the contrary, security was pretty lax."

When he got to the media centre, his dinner partners from the night before asked: "Did you hear what happened?"

"Yeah, I won seven gold medals," Spitz answered before being told of the attack.

By the time the news conference ended -- "there wasn't one question on swimming" -- American officials had decided their number one athlete at the Games, a Jew, needed protecting.

Early in the afternoon his father arrived on a helicopter provided by German Chancellor Willy Brandt. "By then I had six armed guards, four inside the room and two outside," he said.

Soon afterwards Spitz was told by American officials he was being flown home rather than going to Stuttgart where he was due to be presented with a Mercedes sports car. On the way home he would land in London for a photo shoot for a now famous poster of the athlete with all seven gold medals around his neck.

"It seemed so unimportant while this life and death drama was taking place but I felt I should fulfil my obligation.

"At the airport we got into a taxi and drove about halfway to the city, then switched to a private car with Secret Service guys inside.

Eventually he landed in London. "It had been an incredible day...and I remember (coach) Sherm (Chavoor) was in his jammies (pyjamas). He turned to me and said: "Jesus, you're dangerous to travel with.""

The next morning Spitz was horrified to learn that all 11 Israelis had been killed after a shoot-out between their kidnappers and German police.

"I completely freaked out. Here it was, 27 years after the end of World War Two and there were still madmen killing Jews because they are Jews.

"I was hardly in the mood to do that poster but we went to a studio and shot it."

The flight home also provided bitter-sweet memories for Spitz. "I had my medals in the cockpit where I sat with the pilot during take-off.

"Because there was a sense that I might still be in danger because I'm Jewish, the airline gave us the entire upstairs of the 747. No one else was allowed up."

From Los Angeles he flew to Sacramento and he watched the memorial service for the murdered athletes on television with his two sisters.

"The whole thing took on a surreal quality. On Monday night I finished my last event in Munich. On Tuesday morning I learned the Israelis had been taken hostage. By Tuesday night I was in London. And on Wednesday morning I was in Sacramento, sitting in my living room like Johnny Lunchbucket, watching the Olympics on TV as if I had never been there.

"The only difference was that I had two Secret Service guards for a week outside my home."

Spitz said he never felt in danger but the tragedy in Munich led him to reappraise his life and his religion.

"It made me aware of my responsibility to acknowledge that, yes, I am Jewish. You know, before Munich, that issue hardly ever came up.

"I think most people knew I was Jewish but there were no consequences of it -- I was a 22-year-old kid and no one cared about my opinions on international politics, terrorism or other global issues.

"After Munich, I was asked a lot of questions and I felt an obligation to affirm my ties as a Jew and to become educated on the issues, so I could speak knowledgeably."

And, 30 years on, Spitz has no doubt that the suicide attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, have brought the events in Munich back into sharp focus.

"If 9/11 hadn't happened, I don't think the 30th anniversary of the Munich massacre would even register.

"Now that America has experienced an even more horrifying terrorist attack in another September, we recall those terrible days 30 years ago when this senseless murder of innocent civilians seemed to all begin."