In my previous post about the Olympic Games, I wrote that the Olympics died at Munich in 1972, when Israeli athletes were singled out for kidnap and murder by terrorists.

It was not the murder of the Israeli athletes that killed the Games, in my opinion, but the reaction of the Olympic movement to the kidnapping and the subsequent murders.   A memorial service was held.

IOC President Avery Brundage never once referred to the athletes during a speech in which he praised the strength of the Olympic movement.

The Israelis, and many others who listened in shock, were outraged.

The Olympics paused only one day before resuming.

"Incredibly, they're going on with it," Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray wrote. "It's almost like having a dance at Dachau."

Since then, survivors and relatives have pushed for - but never received - a moment of silence to be held at succeeding Olympics.

"They always accused me of wanting to bring politics into the Olympics, and that the Arab countries would walk out," Ankie Spitzer, the widow of one of the slain athletes said. "I said, 'Not at all. You don't even have to mention politics or Israel. Just say they were Olympians, part of the dream."'

Many of the 80,000 people who filled the Olympic Stadium for West Germany’s soccer match with Hungary carried noisemakers and waved flags, but when several spectators unfurled a banner reading “17 dead, already forgotten?” security officers removed the sign and expelled the offenders from the grounds. During the memorial service, the Olympic flag was flown at half-staff, along with the flags of most of the other competing nations, at the order of Willy Brandt. Ten Arab nations and the Soviet Union demanded their flags remain at full-staff, which Brandt accepted.

The terrorists, who most historians agree had their mission disclosed to Yassr Arafat (who would go on to win a Nobel Peace Prize!), managed to dehumanize the Israeli athletes.  But it would be the failure of the Olympian movement to re-humanize them. By allowing the "feelings" of Arab countries (of whom only one - Jordan- made a statement opposing the murders) to trump a proper memorial, with all flags at half-mast, and to allow politics to supercede the Olympic mission, the IOC served notice that at least for the Jewish nation, the Olympic goals were not paramount.

The pattern of "submitting" to Arab and Muslim "demands" was set in motion, corrupting everything in its path.

Ankie Spitzer, the widow of a slain athlete, in an interview with CBS News after 9/11,  wondered whether a world shocked by Sept. 11 would learn from those who try to forget another day in September over 30 years ago.

"The saddest thing for me is to see what happened in New York (on 9/11) and get the feeling if people responded the right way 30 years ago and the world said, 'This cannot be,' that things might have been different," she said.

How many of the many fans of the Olympics around the world have ever read the "Fundamental Principles of Olympism" in the Olympic Charter.

Here is an excerpt:

1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
5. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.

Now consider if the Olympics movement by minimizing the way that the terrorists had struck at the very heart of the Principles of Olympism, and by taking the approach that whatever happens "the Olympics must go on" undermined the very Principles by which they should have been governed.

 If for the Israelis there was the worst kind of discrimination, then the Olympics movement should have said that it was impossible to comply with the Principles that year and everyone should have gone home.  Instead, the Germans botched the entire counter-terrorist operation and moreover showed a lack of willpower in following through.  Many historians believe that the Germans were themselves complicit in the highjacking of the Lufthansa airliner which resulted in the release of the 3 remaining hijackers, since the Germans didn't want them around to stand trial with the world's attention being drawn to the German incompetence in not being "good hosts" to the Jews.   The Olympics movement looked ridiculous when Germany released the bodies of the dead terrorists to Libya where their bodies were carried in massive parades and national celebration.

And so we turn to the present.  Nothing learned.   The situation justs gets worse.  You can help make things better, but if you don't they will get worse.   An Iranian swimmer withdrew from a race, rather than swim in the same pool as an israeli Jew.

Here is the news report from Canada's National Post newspaper:

From Allen Panzeri At the Beijing Games

When Iranian swimmer Mohammad Alirezaei suddenly withdrew from the 100-metre breaststroke on Saturday, no one believed it was the result of an injury.

The widespread suspicion was that he pulled out because Israeli Tom Be’eri was in lane seven. Alirezaei had been drawn in lane one.

Iran had earlier said since this was not a “face-to-face” situation, there would be no problem with Alirezaei competing.

“Alirezaei swims in lane one and the representative of the Zionist regime in lane seven, so they will not face each other,” said the secretary of Iran’s Olympic committee, Ali Kafashian.

However, Iran has not competed against Israel at the Olympic Games since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The two countries are in conflict over religion and nuclear weapons, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Israel should be “wiped out from the map.”

Iran does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state and its athletes have always refused to compete alongside Israelis as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.

During the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Iran’s judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili — one of the country’s top hopes for a gold — refused to compete against Ehud Vaks of Israel in the first round.

He was rewarded at home and revered as a source of pride, but Miresmaeili said that quitting the Olympics was “a very difficult decision.”

However, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the IOC was satisfied that Alirezaei withdrew because of an illness. “The athlete withdraw because of a sickness,” she said.

“He confirmed this in writing to the swimming federation. We also spoke to (Iranian association). And they have underlined to us that all athletes competing here are in the right spirit to compete against athletes of any nationalities.

“We take both the athletes and the NOC had their words on this.”

Does the attitude of the IOC make you as sick as it makes me?  Does Ms. Davies not know or care about the political realities in Iran, a totalitarian country - that it has the official position that Israel as a nation should not exist in the Middle East (and probably the position that as soon as Iran develops nuclear weapons, it will use them on Israel)?

In view of that does she expect us to believe that she can take the word of the athlete that he was feeling sick.   Are we persuaded when she went to the lengths of having him confirm it in writing?

Is Iran at the Olympics with the "right spirit"?

If Iran is showing the right spirit,  then the Olympic Games are dead AND buried.