GAMES OF THE XX OLYMPIAD, THE {1972 MUNICH OLYMPICS} {1972/09/10}: HIGHLIGHTS (TV)
Summary
This program presents a portion of coverage of the 1972 Summer Games of the XX Olympiad from Munich. Highlights include the following events and topics:
Anchor sports commentator Jim McKay presides throughout this portion and recaps highlights and memorable moments from the Games.
McKay comments on the Opening Ceremony of the so-called "serene Olympics," at which athlete Günther Zahn carried the Olympic Torch and lit the cauldron.
Sports commentator Chris Schenkel touches upon various "oddities" from the Games, noting that runners Edward Hart and Reynaud Robinson (both USA) missed the 100-meter men's track and field race because of a timing error by their coach, Stan Wright. In the 100-meter finals, their teammate Robert Taylor (USA) wins the silver medal, and Valery Borzov (USSR) wins the gold.
At the 400-meter men's track and field finals, Vince Matthews (USA) wins the gold medal and Wayne Collett (USA) wins the silver. Matthews and Collett caused controversy at the medal ceremony by conversing with one another and not standing at attention. Sports commentator Howard Cosell interviews Collett, who explains that he felt unable to honor the country's national anthem because of the racial tension in America.
At the 400-meter hurdles men's track and field finals, John Akii-Bua (Uganda) wins the gold medal, Ralph Mann (USA) wins the silver and David Hemery (GBR) wins the bronze.
At the 110-meter hurdles men's track and field finals, Rodney Milburn (USA) wins the gold medal, victorious after having struggled to qualify for the Games.
Turning to women's artistic gymnastics, McKay and sports commentator Gordon Maddux offer commentary as Cathy Rigby (USA) performs on the balance beam.
Olga Korbut (USSR) performs on the uneven bars and earns a score of 9.7, with the errors in her second uneven bars routine costing her the gold medal.
Lyudmila Turischeva (USSR) performs her floor exercises and earns a score of 9.9 and the gold medal. Korbut performs on the balance beam and also earns a 9.9 and the gold medal, then receives the same score for her floor exercises. McKay interviews Korbut with the help of a translater about her achievements.
Schenkel discusses men's freestyle wrestling, and Dan Gable (USA) wins a gold medal in the lightweight competition.
McKay and sports commentator Bill Toomey discuss the men's pole vault, and Wolfgang Nordwig (East Germany) wins the gold medal by achieving a height of eighteen feet, one-quarter inches.
Bob Seagren (USA) wins the silver medal, and talks to Toomey about the judges' confusing decisions regarding the rules about his pole.
In the men's shot put competition, Wladyslaw Komar (Poland) wins the gold medal with a distance of 69 feet, six inches, and George Woods (USA) wins the silver medal by a narrow margin.
Schenkel discusses swimmer Shane Gould (Australia), who won three gold medals in the 200-meter women's independent medley, the 400-meter women's freestyle, and the 200-meter women's freestyle.
In the 10,000-meter men's track and field finals, Lasse Viren (Finland) wins the gold medal despite falling onto the track during the race.
In the 800-meter men's track and field finals, David Wottle (USA) wins the gold medal despite starting the race in last place.
In the 3,000-meter men's steeplechase track and field finals, Kip Keino (Kenya) wins the gold medal.
McKay and sports commentator Erich Segal cover the men's marathon, and a win by Frank Shorter (USA) is eclipsed by the presence of an imposter, Norbert Südhaus, who ran onto the track ahead of him and caused confusion.
In the 5,000-meter men's track and field finals, Lasse Viren (Finland) is again victorious, beating out favored runner Steve Prefontaine (USA).
Cosell discusses boxing, showing a montage of notable fights and then discussing the light-middleweight (71kg) bout between Reggie Jones (USA) and Valery Tregubov (USSR) in which Tregubov's win was hotly contested by the crowd, leading to the dismissal of six judges.
"Sugar" Ray Seales (USA) beats Andres Molina (Cuba) in the light welterweight (64kg) quarterfinals and then defeats Zvonimir Vujin (Yugoslavia) in the semifinals, finally beating Angel Angelov (Bulgaria) in the finals and winning the gold medal.
In the 4x100 men's track and field relay finals, the USA team wins the gold.
Sports commentators Frank Gifford and Bill Russell cover the men's basketball finals between USA and USSR, and the game ends in chaos when the USA team appears to score the game-winning points in the final seconds, only to have the clock turned back several seconds, causing the USSR team to be named the victors instead. The USSR team accepts the gold medal, but the USA team opts not to accept the silver.
Schenkel discusses men's and women's 10-meter platform and 3-meter springboard diving, mentioning notable competitors Ulrika Knape (Sweden), Marina Janicke (East Germany), Micki King (USA), Cynthia Potter (USA), Janet Ely (USA), Milena Duchková (Czechoslovakia), Craig Lincoln (USA), Franco Cagnotto (Italy), Vladimir Vasin (USSR), Dick Rydze (USA), and Klaus Dibiasi (Italy).
Reporter Peter Jennings discusses the Munich Massacre, in which eleven Israeli athletes were killed by members of Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group, on Sept. 5 and 6. Munich police attempted to storm Building 31, where the hostages were being held, and weightlighting coach Tuvia Sokolovsky explains how he escaped the captors. McKay then reports that all of the hostages were executed. The bodies are sent home to Tel Aviv, where they are met by a large crowd of mourners. Jennings interviews Munich police chief Manfred Schreiber, who discusses the decisions made by both German police and Israeli officers in handling the crisis and the "tragic bad luck" of their failure to kill the terrorist leader.
Schenkel briefly recaps the many other sports played at the Games, including field hockey, soccer, handball, and volleyball.
Painter Leroy Neiman discusses his mural of the Games, noting that he included smaller moments of camaraderie amongst the athletes in the image.
Schenkel discusses runner Jim Ryun (USA), who falls on the track and finishes ninth in the fourth qualifying heat of the men's 1,500-meter track and field race. In an interview with Cosell, he explains that he will not participate in the 1980 Olympic Games, preferring to focus on family instead.
In the 1,500-meter finals, Pekka Vasala (Finland) wins the gold medal, Kip Keino (Kenya) wins the silver and Rodney Dixon (New Zealand) wins the bronze.
Swimmer Mark Spitz (USA), who won a record-setting seven gold medals, is then profiled, and his winning races are shown: the 200-meter butterfly, the 4x100 relay, the 200-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly, the 4x200-meter relay, the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter relay.
Schenkel offers closing comments, and a montage of the other USA medalists is shown.
Notable commercials include Joe Namath for Noxzema shaving cream.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: September 10, 1972 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T77:0124
- GENRE: Sports
- SUBJECT HEADING: Olympic Games, 1972, Summer, Munich; Opening Ceremony; Olympics; Sports; Track and Field, 100m men; Track and Field, 400m men; Track and Field, 400m hurdles men; Track and Field, 110m hurdles men; Artistic Gymnastics, balance beam women; Artistic Gymnastics, uneven bars women; Artistic Gymnastics, individual all-round women; Artistic Gymnastics, floor exercises women; Wrestling, Freestyle, 66 - 74kg men; Track and Field, pole vault men; Swimming, 200m individual medley women; Swimming, 400m freestyle women; Swimming, 200m freestyle women; Track and Field, 10000m men; Track and Field, 800m men; Track and Field, 3000m steeplechase men; Track and Field, marathon men; Track and Field, 5000m men; Boxing, Up to 71 kg (Light Middle weight); Boxing, Up to 64 kg (Light Welter weight) men; Track and Field, 4x100m relay men; Basketball, basketball men; Diving, 10m platform women; Diving, 3m springboard women; Diving, 3m springboard men; Diving, 10m platform men; Track and Field, 1500m men; Swimming, 200m butterfly men; Swimming, 4x100m freestyle relay men; Swimming, 200m freestyle men; Swimming, 100m butterfly men; Swimming, 4x200m freestyle relay men; Swimming, 100m freestyle men; Swimming, 4x100m medley relay men; Field Hockey, hockey men; Soccer, soccer men; Handball, handball men; Volleyball, volleyball women; U.S. Olympic Archive, presented by Gordon Crawford, The
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 1972
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Brut aftershave
- TV - Commercials - Campbell soups
- TV - Commercials - Coca-Cola soft drinks
- TV - Commercials - DieHard automobile batteries
- TV - Commercials - International Recreational Vehicles
- TV - Commercials - Kenmore appliances
- TV - Commercials - Kodak cameras
- TV - Commercials - Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance
- TV - Commercials - Noxzema shaving cream
- TV - Commercials - Schick Super II razors
- TV - Commercials - Schlitz beer
- TV - Commercials - Sears Roebuck stores
- TV - Commercials - Texaco automobiles service stations
- TV - Commercials - Toyota automobiles
- TV - Promos - "Goldfinger" motion picture
- TV - Promos - "The Longest Night"
CREDITS
- Jim McKay … Anchor Sports Commentator
- Chris Schenkel … Sports Commentator
- Howard Cosell … Sports Commentator
- Gordon Maddux … Sports Commentator
- Bob Toomey … Sports Commentator
- Erich Segal … Sports Commentator
- Frank Gifford … Sports Commentator
- Bill Russell … Sports Commentator
- Peter Jennings … Reporter
- Edward "Eddie" Hart … Athlete
- Reynaud Robinson … Athlete
- Robert Taylor … Athlete
- Valery Borzov … Athlete
- Vince Matthews … Athlete
- Wayne Collett … Athlete
- John Akii-Bua … Athlete
- Ralph Mann … Athlete
- David Hemery … Athlete
- Rodney Milburn … Athlete
- Cathy Rigby (See also: Cathy Rigby Mason) … Athlete
- Olga Korbut … Athlete
- Lyudmila Turischeva … Athlete
- Dan Gable … Athlete
- Wolfgang Nordwig … Athlete
- Bob Seagren … Athlete
- Wladyslaw Komar … Athlete
- George Woods … Athlete
- Shane Gould … Athlete
- Lasse Viren … Athlete
- David Wottle … Athlete
- Kip Keino … Athlete
- Frank Shorter … Athlete
- Steve Prefontaine … Athlete
- Reggie Jones … Athlete
- Valery Tregubov … Athlete
- Ray Seales (See also: Sugar Ray Seales) … Athlete
- Andres Molina … Athlete
- Zvonimir "Zvonko" Vujin … Athlete
- Angel Angelov … Athlete
- Ulrika Knape … Athlete
- Marina Janicke … Athlete
- Micki King … Athlete
- Cynthia Potter (See also: Cynthia Potter-McIngvale) … Athlete
- Janet Ely … Athlete
- Milena Duchková … Athlete
- Craig Lincoln … Athlete
- Franco Cagnotto … Athlete
- Vladimir Vasin … Athlete
- Richard "Dick" Rydze … Athlete
- Klaus Dibiasi … Athlete
- Jim Ryun … Athlete
- Pekka Vasala … Athlete
- Rodney Dixon … Athlete
- Mark Spitz … Athlete
- Stan Wright … Coach
- Tuvia Sokolovsky … Coach
- Günther Zahn … Guest
- Manfred Schreiber … Guest
- Leroy Neiman … Guest
- Norbert Südhaus
- Joe Namath … Talent, Noxzema shaving cream