Widows call for minute’s silence at ceremony

Widows of two Israeli athletes killed at the 1972 Olympics pleaded with the International Olympic Committee to allow a minute’s silence at the London 2012 opening ceremony.

Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, whose husbands Andrei Spitzer and Yosef Romano were among 11 athletes murdered in the terror attack at the Olympic Village in Munich, yesterday handed in a petition to IOC chiefs containing over 105,000 signatures backing the call.

The women, speaking at a press conference overlooking the Olympic Stadium in east London, said they had shifted from hurt and anger to bafflement over the refusal, but vowed they and their children would work through the grief to press on with the campaign.

Palestinian gunmen took hostage and massacred the 11 Israeli teammates in Sept 1972.

Mrs Romano claimed that IOC president Jacques Rogge, a competitor in 1972, had “let terrorism win” and the IOC had added insult to injury by refusing the silence.

“By doing so he has hurt the memories of the fallen. My husband was murdered on Olympic soil and he deserves the honour that is given to every other Olympian. I consider that to be very hurtful. Myself and the other families are deeply hurt by his deed and his conscience cannot be clear.”

Mrs Romano said she and the other families had “bled for 40 years” and the constant refusal forces them to bear their pain in public to speak to the press and campaign for a tribute.

They hope the crowd at the stadium will stand up for a spontaneous minute’s silence during Mr Rogge’s speech.

Mrs Spitzer rejects the idea that a minute’s silence during the opening ceremony could be taken as a political gesture rather than an act of remembrance.