from the 20:12 INDOOR COLLECTION
PURITY - PERFECTION 1964, Tokyo
The first Asian country to host the Olympics, Tokyo spent
$3bn rebuilding the city to show off its post-war success. The Yoshinori Sakai
was chosen as the final torchbearer, who was born on the day that Hiroshima was
destroyed by an atomic bomb.
SUPREMACY OF A RACE 1936 - Berlin (Germany) games. Hitler allowed only
"Aryan" athletes to represent Germany, but his attempt to demonstrate
racial superiority ran headfirst into U.S. athlete Jesse Owens, an
African-American who ran away with four gold medals. The U.S. had considered,
and then rejected, boycotting the games. However, some individual athletes
chose not to compete.
NEVER OUT OF FASHION -
FREE PALESTINE 1972, Munich
The
largest Games yet staged, the 1972 Olympics were supposed to represent peace.
But the Munich Games are most often remembered for the terrorist attack that
resulted in the death of 11 Israeli athletes. With five days of the Games to
go, 8 Palestinian terrorists broke into the Olympic Village, killing two
Israelis and taking nine others hostage. The Palestinians demanded the release
of 200 prisoners from Israel. All nine Israeli hostages
were killed, as were five of the terrorists and one policeman.
