ATLANTA BOMB: A violent history

Terror at the Olympics is not new. In 1968, the opening ceremony in Mexico City was overshadowed by the massacre of 260 protesters by troops, but this took place 10 days before the games began.

But it is the 1972 Munich massacre of sportsmen that remains the darkest Olympic legend. In the early morning of 5 September, Black September guerrillas burst into the Israeli sleeping quarters with machine- guns blazing.

Moshe Weinberg, a 33-year-old wrestling coach, was killed instantly and Yosef Romano, a weightlifter, was fatally wounded as he held a door shut while team-mates escaped; 15 got out through windows and side doors, but 10 were taken hostage.

The terrorists were demanding the release of 200 Palestinians held in Israeli jails and wanted safe passage out of Germany. Willy Brandt, the West German Chancellor, took charge of negotiations and told them they would be flown to an Arab country, along with their hostages.

That night they were taken to the nearby Furstenfeldbruck military airport, where Bavarian police made a rescue attempt. Their marksmen opened fire as the terrorists walked out on to the airstrip.

But the operation failed tragically and the hostages, four kidnappers and a German policeman were killed in the gun battle that followed. Three terrorists were captured; one escaped.