A blight on the London Olympics

All the concerns over traffic, security, cost overruns at the London Olympics turned out to be unfounded. The London games were a tremendous success by all measures. Crowds were well handled, the underground services moved well and the games themselves were fantastic. Britain won more medals than it has ever won. Overall, it was a tremendous boost to a recession ravaged city and country. Everyone I have spoken to who attended gave high marks to the organization, the facilities and the games themselves.   Unfortunately, one major blight on these Olympics was the continued refusal of Dr. Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC to allow for a moment of silence at either opening ceremonies or the closing ceremonies in memory of the 11 Israeli Olympic athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Notwithstanding entrenties  from US President Barack Obama, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Canadian foreign minister John Baird and the Governor General David Johnston, as well as resolutions from the U.S. Congress, and Canadian, Australian, German, Italian and UK parliamentarians; and sustained international public campaign and anguished civil society appeals, the IOC and Mr. Rogge, steadfastly refused to have a moment of silence at the games.   Mr. Rogge's position that it was not appropriate to commemorate those athletes in those ceremonies, can only be explained in one way, and that is because the athletes were Israeli and Jewish. There have been precedents having a moment of silence in previous games, such as two years ago at the winter games in Vancouver with a moment of silence to observe the memory of the Georgian athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili who died in a training accident. Ten years ago, in 2002, the IOC memorialized the victims of 9/11, even though that terrorist atrocity had no connection to the games whatsoever. Had American or French athletes been targeted and murdered at the 1972 Olympics, would Mr. Rogge have taken the same position? Definitely not. Mr. Rogge has left a very sad and distressing legacy at these games. Congratulations Mr. Rogge and the IOC on a job well done.