WORLD SPORTS SCENE : Israelis to Appeal Rejection of ’72 Olympic Suit

Relatives of 11 Israeli athletes and officials killed during and after a siege of the athletes’ village by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Summer Olympics sued the city of Munich, the state of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany for $26 million last week.

A Munich district court rejected the claim, ruling that the statute of limitations expired in 1977. But an attorney for the relatives told a London-based newspaper, the European, that the ruling will be appealed on the grounds that it was impossible to make a case earlier because police files regarding the incident were classified until 1992.

On Sept. 5, 1972, eight Black September terrorists invaded the Israeli quarters, killed two athletes and took nine other members of the delegation hostage while demanding the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners in German jails, and safe passage from the country. The hostages, five terrorists and one policeman were killed in the ensuing rescue attempt by German security forces at a nearby military airfield.

Relatives of the Israelis were paid $1 million collectively with a check issued in 1974 by the German Red Cross, but their attorney argued that there was no indication that the money was intended as a settlement by the city, state or federal governments.

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With almost two-thirds of the 11 million tickets to the 1996 Summer Olympics sold or assigned, the chance of seeing the most popular events in Atlanta is all but impossible without having friends in high places or paying exorbitant prices. Organizers reported last week that 384 of the 540 sports sessions were sold out.

Still, Olympic junkies can witness some of the action. Tickets are available to watch the Games’ first medal ceremony--the July 20 shooting session at Wolf Creek.

Seats for women’s basketball quarterfinal and semifinals games were available, as well as the bronze medal round of men’s soccer and the semifinals and final of women’s soccer.

Aquatics, badminton, fencing and judo are among the sports that are sold out, but tickets are available in some sessions of baseball, softball, gymnastics, field hockey and canoe/kayak and other sports.

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In everything from her looks to her music and costumes, figure skater Michelle Kwan of Torrance has been made over in an attempt to give her a more mature image for judges who might think that, at 15 years old and at 5 feet 2 and 96 pounds, she is still too much of a little girl to win a women’s competition internationally.

It worked last week--so did seven triples jumps in her freestyle program--when she defeated the top three finishers from this year’s World Championships in the Skate America International at Detroit. Kwan followed that by winning Friday’s Skate Canada competition.

But not everyone is sure that the new look is right for her. Jere Longman of the New York Times said heavy makeup makes her look “hard and artificial” and that “it does not give Kwan what she lacks at this stage: maturity.”

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The 1996 U.S. women’s basketball team is shunning the Olympic village, just as the men did in 1992 and will do again in 1996. Both Olympic teams will live in the same undisclosed downtown Atlanta hotel. The price tag for the three-week stay, to be paid by USA Basketball, could reach an estimated $500,000 for each team.

LeRoy Walker, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, was unhappy with the arrangement.

“They ought to have the Olympic experience, and I don’t think you can get that in an isolated hotel somewhere,” Walker told the Washington Post.

World Scene Notes

Three-time New York marathon winner Alberto Salazar of Eugene, Ore., is contemplating competing in next February’s U.S. Olympic marathon trials at Charlotte, N.C. He is 37. . . . Gail Devers, who repeated as the gold medalist in the 100-meter hurdles at this year’s World Championships but did not attempt to retain her 100-meter title because of injuries, will return to the double next year.

Italy’s top skiers, Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, will skip the World Cup opener at Tignes, France, to prepare for the Nov. 16-19 World Cup races at Vail, Colo. . . . U.S. diver Mary Ellen Clark, who sat out last season because of vertigo, has resumed training. . . . The U.S. men’s water polo team, off since its fourth-place finish in last month’s World Cup, returned to its full-time residency program last week at Long Beach. . . . U.S. women archers have secured the maximum three berths for the 1996 Summer Games with a one-two finish by Ruth Rowe of McLean, Va., and Janet Dykman of El Monte in last week’s Continental Olympic Qualifying Tournament of the Americas at Mexico City.

Times staff writer Randy Harvey contributed to this story.