1972 Summer Olympics Olympic games in 1976. The Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the "Munich massacre". Just before dawn on September 5, a group of eight members of the Black September Palestinian terrorist organization broke into the Olympic Village and took eleven Israeli athletes, coaches and officials hostage in their apartments. Two of the hostages who resisted were killed in the first moments of the break-in; the subsequent standoff in the Olympic Village lasted for almost 18 hours. Late in the evening of September 5 that same day, the terrorists and their nine remaining hostages were
1985 Maccabiah Games 1985 Maccabiah Games The 1985 12th Maccabiah Games brought over 4,000 athletes to Israel from 37 nations to compete in 28 sports. The Maccabiah Games were first held in 1932. In 1961, they were declared a "Regional Sports Event" by, and under the auspices and supervision of, the International Olympic Committee. Twenty years after his first appearance in the Maccabiah, Olympic Champion Mark Spitz returned to Israel to carry the Opening Ceremony’s Torch into Ramat Gan Stadium. He was accompanied by Shirli Shapiro, Anok Spitzer, and Shlomit Romano, children of three of the Israelis slain at the 1972 Munich Olympics.