President of the International Olympic Committee a minute of silence to be held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Munich Games attack during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, despite the standing request of the families of the 11 Israeli Olympic team members who were held hostage and murdered by the Palestinian group Black September. Calls for such a commemoration marking 40 years since the massacre had also come from Jewish organizations worldwide and politicians from the United States, Israel, Canada, Italy, Australia and Germany. He and the IOC instead opted for a smaller ceremony in London that took place on 6
Cyprus Olympic Committee medalist in Athens 1896), Aristidis Konstantinidis (cycling gold medalist in Athens 1896), Stavros Tziortzis (7th in the 400m hurdles in Munich 1972) and Lakis Georgiou Psimolofitis (8th in skeet shooting in Munich 1972). Cyprus’ first ever Olympic participation came in the Winter Games of 1980 at Lake Placid in United States, while the debut of Cyprus in the Summer Olympics came six months later in Moscow. Since then, Cyprus has been present at every Summer and Winter Olympic Games as well as other multisport events in continental and world level. The greatest accomplishment for Cyprus at the Olympics came in