In this page, I will focus on the cases, related to black people’s movement and terrorism. During the Olympic Games, political statements were also made.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos won the gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200-meter race. When they stood upon the victory platform, during the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner," they each raised one hand, covered by a black glove, in a Black Power salute. Their gesture was meant to bring attention to the conditions of blacks in the United States.
This act, since it went against the ideals of the Olympic Games, caused the two athletes to be expelled from the Games. The IOC stated, "The basic principle of the Olympic Games is that politics plays no part whatsoever in them. U.S. athletes violated this universally accepted principle, to advertise domestic political views."
Dick Fosbury drew attention not because of any political statement, but because of his unorthodox jumping technique. Though there had been several techniques previously used to get over the high jump bar, Fosbury jumped over the bar backwards and head first. This form of jumping became known as the "Fosbury flop."
Bob Bemoan made headlines by an amazing long jump. Known as an erratic jumper because he often took off with the wrong foot, Bemoan tore down the runway, jumped with the correct foot, cycled through the air with his legs, and landed at 8.90 meters, making a world record 63 centimeters beyond the old record.
The 1972 Olympic Games will probably be best remembered for the murder of eleven Israeli Olympians. On September 5, a day before the Games were to begin, eight Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic Village and seized eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team.
Two of the hostages were able to wound two of their captors before they were killed. The terrorists requested the release of 234 Palestinians that were being held in Israel. During a failed attempt at rescue, all of the remaining hostages and five of the terrorists were killed, three terrorists were wounded.The IOC decided that the Games should go on. The following day there was a memorial service for the victims and the Olympic flags were flown at half-staff. The opening of the Olympics was postponed one day. The decision of the IOC to continue the Games after such a horrific event was controversial.
More controversies were to affect these Games. During the Olympic Games a dispute arose during the basketball game between the Soviet Union and the United States. With one second left on the clock, and the score in favor of the Americans at 50-49, the horn sounded. The Soviet coach had called a time-out. The clock was reset to three seconds and played out. The Soviets still hadn't scored and for some reason, the clock was again set back to three seconds.
This time, Soviet player Alexander Belov made a basket and the game ended at 50-51 in the Soviet's favor. Though the timekeeper and one of the referees stated that the additional three seconds was completely illegal, the Soviets were allowed to keep the gold. In an amazing feat, Mark Spitz dominated the swimming events and won seven gold medals.