Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano urged members of the crowd to stand for a spontaneous minute of silence during the opening ceremony . Spitzer claimed that Rogge was using a Munich ceremony organised by the Israelis and the London Jewish community on August 6 as an excuse not to hold the moment of silence . Spitzer said , " Jacques Rogge is using it as a hideaway . If the Israeli embassy and London Jewish community were not organizing it , he would not have any memorial to go to . " When the Israeli delegation entered the Olympic Stadium , NBC sportscaster Bob Costas noted that the International Olympic Committee denied the requests for a minute of silence , saying in an interview that " many people find that denial more than puzzling but insensitive . " During the opening ceremony , Costas referred to the spontaneous minute of silence the week before as insufficient , saying , " Still , for many , tonight with the world watching is the true time and place to remember those who were lost and how and why they died . " Congressman Eliot Engel condemned the IOC 's refusal , saying , " Shame on you ! " Joseph Potasnik , vice president of the New York board of rabbis , said , " 37,360 : these are the number of minutes in the entire Olympics and they did n't find one . " Barbara Berger , whose brother David Mark Berger was killed in the Munich massacre , felt dismayed and offended at the rejection , explaining that " A moment of silence may not seem like much . But to us , to the families who lost so much , that silent respect will speak volumes . " Such a moment : Aly Raisman , a Jewish-American gymnast who won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics , expressed her support for a minute of silence at the Olympics , saying that , " The fact it was on the 40th anniversary is special , and winning the gold today means a lot to me . If there had been a moment 's silence , I would have supported it and respected it . " On August 9 , Irwin Cotler , a former Canadian justice minister and attorney-general and a then-member of Parliament , wrote a last-minute plea to Rogge to hold a minute of silence at the closing ceremony of the Olympics . Cotler wrote : Cotler said that the IOC 's " steadfast reluctance " to hold a minute of silence ignores and mocks " the calls for a moment of silence by Government leaders ... and the sustained international public campaign and anguished civil society appeals . " Cotler also mentioned that such a memorial would not be unprecedented , mentioning the minute of silence observed in memory of the Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili in the 2010 Winter Olympics ; the 2002 Winter Olympics ' memorialization of the victims of 9/11 ; and the 2012 Summer Olympics ' memorialization of the victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings , which happened the day after London was awarded the games . Cotler noted that neither of the last two terrorist attacks he mentioned were connected to the Olympics
7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
2012 Olympics one minute of silence campaign