Athletes remember Olympic massacre

Mourners stand infront of a memorial to the killed Israeli athletes

MUNICH, Germany -- Relatives of the 11 Israelis killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics joined athletes at a memorial service to the victims on Sunday, standing in silence, listening to songs and speeches and promising not to forget the victims.

Amid tight security, 25 relatives of the athletes who were killed by Palestinian terrorists on September 5, 1972, were joined by the Israeli team in Munich for the European athletics championship.

The one-hour ceremony took place at the monument to the victims, a large stone tablet placed at the bridge linking the former Olympic village to the Olympic stadium. The victims' names are etched in the stone in German and Hebrew, with the solemn words: "In honour of their memory."

An Israeli flag was draped across the tablet, with 11 candles burning and fresh wreaths laid at the foot of the monument. Six Israeli flags fluttered in the wind.

During the ceremony, police helicopters circled above, the main highway passing under the bridge was closed off in both directions and police sharpshooters scanned the area from the bridge.

EXTRA INFORMATION More sports news at CNNsi.com

Two Israeli athletes were killed immediately by members of the Palestinian Black September terrorist group in the village. The others were taken hostage in an effort to gain the freedom of 200 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

During a failed rescue attempt that followed a 20-hour standoff at an airfield near Munich, the Palestinians killed the remaining nine Israeli athletes and coaches. Five gunmen and a German policeman also died in the battle.

File photo shows a Palestinian terrorist on the balcony of the village building where Israeli team was being held hostage

For the first time since the Munich Games, the village built for the Olympians is being used by athletes, including all 17 Israelis at the European track and field championships, which close on Sunday.

The Israelis say it was an important symbolic gesture for them to be at the European championships. "You feel shivers when you close your eyes and think about the terrible things that happened," distance runner Nili Abramski told The Associated Press. "But we had to come and show that even the most terrible things won't stop us."

Abramski said she thought about the massacre as soon as she learned the championships would take place in Munich. The dark chapter in the city's history only made her want to compete even more. Seventeen athletes qualified for the championships, the most for Israel in the 18-year history of the tournament.

"We wanted to show that we are even stronger -- that we never give up," she added. "We know we are targets everywhere we go, but you can't live in fear." Abramski competed in the 10,000-metre finals, in which she came last, with 72 written on one of her hands and 11 on the other, in references to the year of the killings and the number of the victims.

Pole vaulter Alex Averbukh made the athletes' return a triumphant one by winning the gold medal, Israel's first-ever medal at the championships. He dedicated it to his late father and to the people of Israel.

Levy Psavkin, chief of the Israeli delegation, said the athletes have been shown exceptional hospitality, but they will never forget that bleak day in 1972.

Ankie Spitzer, widow of the Israeli fencing coach, Andre Spitzer, who was killed, surveys the room where the incident occurred three days earlier

"I have a bad feeling to be in Germany; my whole family perished in the Holocaust," Psavkin told AP. "Munich is nothing compared to what happened before."

The massacre during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich took the life of Israel's greatest athlete Esther Roth's coach and changed hers forever. "I lost something in Munich," she told Reuters.

"They murdered the Olympic spirit and they killed my career," added the 50-year-old, sitting outside the stadium built for the 1972 Games, where the European athletics championships are being staged.

Roth had reached the semifinals of the 100 metres hurdles when the athletes were taken hostage. In the ensuing botched rescue attempt her coach, Amitzur Shapira, was killed.

The Games went on but the Israeli team flew home and Roth's lane remained empty in the race she had dreamed about. "I wanted to quit the sport but then I decided to carry on, for my coach and for Israel," she said.

"I went to the next Games because I thought my coach would have wanted me to go to the Olympics again." She made history in Montreal in 1976 by becoming the first Israeli woman to reach an Olympic final, finishing sixth in the 100 metres hurdles before starting a new career as a physical education teacher.

Copyright 2002 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.