HARPO ’ s MARKS
It is now 50 years since one of the most momentous years in sport – the major event being the Munich Olympic Games in which eight Palestinian terrorists took the lives of 11 members of the Israeli team members after invading the Olympic Village .
After 10 days of competition , the Black September terrorists detained hostages and demanded the release of 234 Arab political activists which the Israeli government refused to accede .
The terrorists , who had killed two Israeli team members and a German official when the operation first commenced , then demanded that a helicopter take them to Fuerstenfeldbruck NATO Airbase where they would board a Boeing 727 and fly to an Arab country .
The West German Government agreed with the request and the Palestinians , along with nine hostages , boarded the helicopter at the Games Village and flew to the airport . That ’ s where the situation took a turn for the worse .
An ambush was arranged for when the group exited the helicopter at the airport .
It was a shemozzle from the outset with the incompetency of the West German police contributing to the death of one of their own snipers and all nine hostages while five of the eight terrorists paid the ultimate sacrifice .
But the games must go on ! After one day of mourning the games resumed .
Australia ’ s 170-strong team did well despite the black cloud hanging over the competitions , winning eight gold , seven silver and two bronze medals .
The brilliant swimming sensation , Shane Gould , competing at her one and only Olympics , snared gold in the 200m Individual Medley and 200m and 400m freestyle events .
Other swimmers to stand on the top dais at the medal presentations were Bev Whitfield ( 200m breaststroke ), Gail Neal ( 400m IM ) and Brad Cooper , who was eventually awarded the 400m freestyle gold medal in controversial circumstances .
In the final , Cooper was touched out by American , Rick De Mont , and gleefully accepted his silver medal at the presentation ceremony .
Three days later , it was announced that De Mont , an asthmatic , was disqualified for taking a prohibited drug which the USA officials had failed to add to their list of banned substances .
Cooper reluctantly accepted his own gold medal on the last night of the games but stated : “ the 400 gold is not mine – De Mont won it fair and square ”.
De Mont refused to hand back his gold medal and took it back home with him . The other two gold medals were won at the yachting - David Forbes and John Anderson won gold in the Star Class and John Cuneo and his crew , Tom Anderson and John Shaw , emulated their performance in the Dragon class .
The shining light at the 1972 Munich Olympics was the great American swimmer , Mark Spitz , who had to pay excess baggage fees because of the seven gold medals which accompanied him on the flight back to the USA .
Spitz stood on the top dais on his Pat Malone after wins in the 100m and 200m butterfly , 200m and 200m freestyle and shared the dais with relay team-mates in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m medley .
On the international tennis scene , the legendary American Billie-Jean King , won the eighth of her 10 Wimbledon singles championships , while in the men ’ s draw , another Yank , Stan Smith , won his one and only major , ending a run of five Australian victories in the tournament .
Jack Nicklaus won two of the four major golf tournaments , the US Open and US Masters , another great , Gary Player , snared the US PGA and the colourful Lee Trevino beat Nicklaus by one stroke to win the coveted Auld Mug at the British Open .
Back in Australia , Peter Thomson won the third of his Australian Open Golf Championships , 21 years after his first success in ‘ 51 when he edged out another great Aussie , Norman Von Nida .
On the boxing scene in the heavyweight division , Joe Frazier defended his title twice during the year before
Barrier Rise with
TONY BRASSEL
FORBIDDEN LOVE was most impressive in handy second behind the champion Nature Strip over 900m at Rosehill on Jan 17 . Tagged the champ all the way and went to the line full of running . She ’ s in for a big spring !
MALLORY showed scintillating speed and was never off the bit in effortless 900m win at R ’ wick on Jan 17 . Top class 3YO filly and another likely to have a successful spring campaign .
BERGEN has performed only fairly in two runs back from a spell but he went to the line full of running when 8 th of 9 in a 1030m R ’ wick hit-out on Jan 17 . Was under a stranglehold throughout . Don ’ t miss him .
OMNI MAN had all his rivals chasing hard in cruising to an effortless 1030m win at R ’ wick on Jan 17 . I Am Invincible youngster ready to rock ‘ n ’ roll when he resumes .
FIRE showed some ability last time in but indicated vast improvement
in running sensational time in 902m win at R ’ wick on Jan 17 . Showed tremendous pace and was very strong down the running .
MARS MISSION is a 3YO Deep field colt out of the Team Hawkes camp and indicated a stack of ability in finishing like a bullet train at R ’ wick On Jan 17 to win a 902m trial in smart time despite having last use of the track . Unraced and ready to strike when he makes his debut .
RUBYEXPRESS is trained at Beaudesert by Greg Cornish who snuck her down to Ballina for a 1010m trial on a soft track at Ballina on Jan 16 . She led and was very strong at the finish to win as she liked . She has solid form in Queensland so watch out for her wherever she runs . losing it to George Foreman the following January .
Other notable weight champions that year were Bob Foster ( light heavyweight ), Carlos Monzon ( middleweight ), Jose Napoles ( welter ) and Ruben Olivares ( bantam ).
On the home front and on the racetrack , rank outsider , the Tasmanian , Piping Lane , won the Melbourne Cup , while the other major race winners were Sobar ( Caulfield Cup ), Gunsynd ( W . S . Cox Plate and Doncaster Handicap ) and John ’ s Hope ( Golden Slipper ).
Harness racing ’ s top prize , the Inter Dominion pacing final , went to New South Wales pacer , Welcome Advice – the trotting division of the series was not held that year .
In major football events , Manly defeated Easts 19-14 in the Sydney first grade rugby league competition and while down south , Carlton beat Richmond to win the Victorian Football League Aussie Rules title .
In other major sporting events , Ken “ Muscles ” Rosewall and England ’ s Virginia Wade were the Australian Open tennis champions , the legendary Heather McKay ( nee Blundell ) posted the 13th of her 16 straight Australian Open Squash Championships victories .
Back in ‘ 72 local hot-shot soccer teams played in the NSW League and the winners that year were Marconi Fairfield which played in an era of ethnic-based teams such as Prague , Yugal , Hakoah , Apia and St George-Budapest .
The revered Peter Brock won the first of his nine James Hardie One Thousand titles on the famed Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst , and Kiwi , Graham McRae , won the Australian Grand Prix .
Yes , certainly was a full year of sport and except for the Munich horror , enjoyed not only by the various winners but the sporting public around the globe .
LOW MARKS : How many imbeciles ? Let me count the ways ! Those wombats who are all involved in the ludicrous Novak Jerkovic saga need to be drawn and quartered . Especially Jerkovic , Slow-Mo and Tennis Australia CEO , Craig “ What round is it ?” Tiley . The Three Stooges ! With apologies to Curley , Larry and Mo .
HIGH MARKS : None of my circle of friends show no interest whatsoever in watching , reading or hearing about hasbeen rugby league players pretending to be boxers . That ’ s why they ’ re still my mates !
Canoeist , Dennis Green , the first Australian to compete at five Summer Olympics , was given the honour of being the flag bearer when the Australian team entered the stadium at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games .
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THE HILLS INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 80 // FEBRUARY 2022 33