Politics again intervened at Munich in 1972 , with lethal consequences . A Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation . They killed two Israelis and held 9 others as hostages . The terrorists demanded that Israel release numerous prisoners . When the Israeli government refused their demand , a tense stand-off ensued while negotiations continued . Eventually the captors , still holding their hostages , were offered safe passage and taken to an airport , where they were ambushed by German security forces . In the firefight that followed , 15 people , including the nine Israeli athletes and five of the terrorists , were killed . After much debate , it was decided that the Games would continue , but proceedings were obviously dominated by these events . Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games , notably the winning of a then-record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz , Lasse Virén ( of Finland ) 's back-to-back gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters , and the winning of three gold medals by Soviet gymnastic star Olga Korbut - who achieved a historic backflip off the high bar . Korbut , however , failed to win the all-around , losing to her teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva
lethal consequences
Munich massacre
Summer Olympic Games