Efforts Persist For Olympic Minute Of Silence For Slain Athletes

The Israeli ambassador to London will join the widows of two slain Israeli athletes at a Wednesday morning press conference asking the International Olympic Committee to hold a minute of silence for the 11 Israelis slain at the Munich Olympics. The press conference, also attended by representatives of the JCC Rockland, will follow Tuesday evening’s presentation of a with more than 103,000 signatures from around the world calling for the minute of silence at Friday’s opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Munich 11 widows Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano will request one final time that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its President Jacque Rogge honor their request and hold a minute of silence at the XXX London Olympics for the 11 Israelis murdered at the 1972 Munich games. Rogge restated the IOC’s refusal on Saturday.

Spitzer and Romano, along with Israel’s Ambassador to London Daniel Taub, will ask again n Wednesday for the IOC to reconsider. Their husbands, fencing coach Andrei Spitzer and weightlifter Yossef Romano, were killed by terrorists along with nine of their teammates. 

The petition started by Spitzer and Romano in conjunction with JCC Rockland has sparked an outpouring of support from around the world, including legislative and government action in the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Israel and others. The effort began two years ago.

Since the massacre took place almost 40 years ago, the families of the slain athletes have been asking the IOC for a minute of silence. The IOC has refused the request, claiming that it would bring politics into the Olympics.