LONDON (AP) — IOC President Jacques Rogge has rejected the latest calls for a minute’s silence to be observed at the opening of the London Olympics for the 11 Israeli team members killed by Palestinian gunmen at the 1972 Munich Games.
The IOC has come under pressure from politicians in the United States, Israel and Germany to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre at next Friday’s opening ceremony of the London Games.
Rogge says the IOC will pay homage to the slain Israeli athletes and coaches at a reception in London during the games and will attend a ceremony in Germany on the anniversary of the killings on Sept. 5.
But Rogge reiterated the IOC’s position Saturday against a minute’s silence during the London opening ceremony.
He says “we feel that the opening ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such as a tragic incident.”
