Slain Athletes Forgotten by IOC

I wish to thank Al Martinez (“Never a Silent Moment,” July 19) and Bill Plaschke (“Taking an Official Eraser to Black Mark of Terrorism,” July 20) on their sensitive articles regarding the 11 Israeli athletes who were killed during the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

The 14 children of these heroic athletes were not recognized at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Atlanta, nor was there any thoughtfulness from the International Olympic Committee or effort to sit them together. In the 24 years since that awful attack by terrorists the IOC refuses to grant any mention of their deaths on the grounds that it is “political.”

Anouk Spitzer, daughter of fencing coach Andre Spitzer, one of the victims, expressed it very well. “My father was not here as a politician; he was here as an athlete. He came here with dreams just like everybody else. He left in a coffin, but he had those dreams.” She was only 2 months old when he died.

What a terrible injustice! They lived and died but the IOC does not want to remember them. Why?

ROSE LEVY

Encino