President of the International Olympic Committee Germany, to continue the Games following the Black September Palestinian terrorist attack which killed eleven Israeli athletes. While some criticized Brundage's decision—including "L.A. Times" columnist Jim Murray, who wrote "Incredibly, they're going on with it. It's almost like having a dance at Dachau")—most did not, and few athletes withdrew from the Games. The Olympic competition was suspended on 5 September for one complete day. The next day, a memorial service of eighty thousand spectators and three thousand athletes was held in the Olympic Stadium. Brundage gave an address in which he stated: Brundage strongly opposed the exclusion of Rhodesia from
David Berger National Memorial David Berger National Memorial David Berger National Memorial honors the memory of David Mark Berger, a 28-year-old U.S.-born Israeli weightlifter who was one of 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The memorial is dedicated to his memory and to the memory of the ten other athletes who were killed. The black steel sculpture, a design of broken Olympic rings, is meant to symbolize the interruption of the Munich games by the tragic events, and the eleven segments on which the rings rest represent each athlete whose life was taken. The