1972 Summer Olympics medal table invitation and threatened to boycott the Games. Three days before the opening ceremonies the IOC voted to rescind their invitation and exclude the Rhodesian athletes. The Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the Munich massacre. On September 5 a group of eight Palestinian terrorists belonging to the Black September Organization broke into the Olympic Village and took nine 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.
Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Olympics Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Olympics Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. 284 competitors, 210 men and 74 women, took part in 159 events in 18 sports. British athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games. The Great Britain team included 69-year-old equestrian Lorna Johnstone - the oldest British athlete ever to appear in the Olympic Games. In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, Great Britain entered three men and three women. Their highest placing competitor was Lynne Evans, at 16th place in the