A model of the Munich stadium
by Philip Barker
The latest Journal of Olympic History contains extensive coverage of the ISOH Assembly and memorial events in Munich’s Olympic Park.
ISOH members can access the journal here.
Those who attended our General Assembly in Munich’s Olympic village, last September will have seen at first hand that the Olympic Park remains a vibrant part of the city’s life as it enters its second half century.
The Superbloom Music Festival, blessed for the most part with fine weather, followed in the concert hosting tradition since the earliest days of the stadium.
Those to have performed under the multiple roofs have included the Rolling Stones, who returned many times, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Madonna and this September, Ed Sheeran.
But the Munich Olympiastadion was built first and foremost for sport and as it took shape many in the artistic world acclaimed the new stadium as a marvel of the modern age.
In 1971, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York displayed models of architect Frei Otto’s work including his designs for the Olympic Park.
“Frei Otto has elevated the traditional tent to a modern building type capable of remarkably large spans,” MOMA exhibition curator Ludwig Glaeser wrote.
It was said Franz Beckenbauer, captain of Bayern Munich and West Germany’s national football team did not approve of the new stadium but he took part in the first sporting event, an international football match between West Germany and the Soviet Union.
Both teams were introduced to Munich 1972 Olympic Organising Committee President Willi Daume, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Alfons Goppel and Munich Bürgermeister (Mayor) Hans-Jochen Vogel, a man who had driven the Olympic bid in the 1960s.
“It is a beautiful and emotional night,” Daume said, smiling in a television interview before the match began.
On the touchline, Günter Noris and his band played the official 1972 Olympic Games fanfare.
It was perhaps predictable that West Germany’s ace marksman Gerd Müller, known as Der Bomber, scored the first goal in the new stadium from close range.
It proved a winning start for the Germans who ended the night with a 4-1 victory.
More importantly, Olympic organisers reported “the filling and emptying of the stadium and for the transportation of the spectators after the match proved satisfactory.”
Back in 1966, Munich’s Olympic bid had promised “the future sports centre of Munich, equipped with facilities for almost all sports. It is therefore eminently suitable for important international sports event”.
The translucent roof, used with colour television in mind, was designed to avoid shadows on the field of play.
It was tested in a wind tunnel and the last of the acrylic panels, each nine square metres in size, swung into place on April 21, 1972.
The stadium had its own telephone exchange with 396 lines and 4,000 extensions, a computer for results and undersoil heating.
It was formally handed over to the Organising Committee in July.
On a late August afternoon, the Olympic Opening Ceremony began with the parade of 121 nations, greeted by appropriate folk music specially arranged by Kurt Edelhagen for the orchestra.
In “A welcome from the youth,” performers sang and danced to “Sumer is Icumen in,” a mediaeval melody.
West German President Gustav Heinemann opened the Games. Prior to that, the Flame was carried in by Günther Zahn, West German Youth 1500 metres champion in 1972. “A young, unknown runner as a representative of future generations,” Zahn was escorted by representatives of the four other continents.
The Flame “was not to burn in a brazier as at earlier Games, but on two concentric fire rings each with twenty-one gas jets, 116 stone steps away from the arena and towering above the stadium edge,” the Olympic Report explained.
After the Flame was lit, German long jumper Heidi Schüller became the first woman to speak the athletes’ oath at a Summer Olympic Games.
Heinz Pollay spoke an oath on behalf of officials, first introduced in 1972.
“Experimental music” written by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki on the theme of Ekecheiria, the ancient Olympic Truce, brought the Ceremony to a close.
A few days later, West Germany beat Malaysia 3-0 in a football preliminary match, the first Olympic event held in the stadium.
This was followed by the conclusion of the men’s modern pentathlon.
In athletics, Ugandan John Akii-Bua set a new world record to win the 400 metres hurdles and Valeriy Borzov, a Ukrainian representing the Soviet Union, completed the men’s sprint double 100m and 200m.
East Germany’s Renate Stecher won the women’s 100m as the first leg of her own sprint double and the 10,000m gold went to Finnish policeman Lasse Virén, the first stage of what turned out to be a successful attempt to win the two longest track events.
Then came the terrible events for which Munich 1972 will be forever remembered.
Terrorists infiltrated the quarters of the Israeli team in the nearby Athletes’ Village. Eleven Israelis died, most in a shoot-out at nearby Furstenfeldbruck Air Base, along with a German policeman.
The stadium schedule was altered for a full-scale memorial service as the Games themselves stood still.
“Shaken to the core, we mourn the barbaric profanation of the Olympic spirit caused by the malicious raid by terrorists,” Israeli Chef de Mission Shmuel Lalkin said as he recited the names of the dead.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Avery Brundage also addressed the gathering.
“Every civilised person is dismayed by this barbaric and criminal raid on the peaceful Olympic site by terrorists. With our Israeli friends, we mourn the victims of this brutal attack,” Brundage began.
“The Games of the XXth Olympiad have been the target of two terrible attacks because we have lost the struggle against political repression in the case of Rhodesia,” he continued.
Afterwards, Brundage was widely criticised for likening the attack to the political dispute over Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, before the Olympics.
Brundage declared: “The Games must go on!”
They did, but in a subdued manner. The Closing Ceremony was deliberately downscaled in the wake of the attack.
After the Games the stadium became a football ground as Bayern Munich took up official residence.
They had already played there in June 1972, after receiving special permission to play a Bundesiga match against Schalke 04 at the stadium instead of at the Grünwalder ground which had been their home up to this point.
Bayern won 5-1 to clinch the Bundesliga title with a team which included national stars Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeneß, goalkeeper Sepp Maier and Müller.
“It was vital for the star ensemble around Franz Beckenbauer to be part of big football, especially now that the Olympic Stadium is available with twice the spectator capacity of the Grünwalder Stadium,” insisted Helmut Dirschner in Kicker magazine.
In 1974, West Germany also hosted the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Stadium was a key venue.
Italy faced outsiders Haiti in the first World Cup match played in the stadium.
Sensationally, Emmanuel Sanon gave Haiti the lead shortly before half time, with the first international goal conceded by Italian keeper Dino Zoff in 1,143 minutes of play.
The Italians eventually won 3-1, but were eliminated at the group stage after losing to Poland in the same stadium a week later.
The Poles returned to Munich for the third and fourth place playoff where they beat Brazil 1-0.
In the final, West Germany, led by Beckenbauer, faced the Netherlands, inspired by skipper Johan Cruyff.
Henry Kissinger was amongst the guests in the Presidential box.
The final was delayed when referee Jack Taylor noticed that the flag posts were missing.
When the match did kick off, the West Germans conceded a penalty before they had touched the ball, the first to be awarded in a World Cup final.
Johan Neeskens converted but another penalty gave Breitner the opportunity to level midway through the first half before, inevitably, Müller scored the winning goal for West Germany.
Five years later, Europe’s most prestigious club final was also contested in the stadium. Nottingham Forest beat Malmö, thanks to a diving header from Trevor Francis.
When West Germany hosted the European Championship in 1988, Munich was chosen for the final once again.
As in the 1974 World Cup, the Dutch reached the final, inspired by a new generation which included Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten.
Gullit scored the first against the Soviet Union, then an astonishing strike from Van Basten sealed the victory as Dutch fans transformed the stadium into a moving mosaic of orange.
The Champions League final returned twice more, the last time in 1997, when Borussia Dortmund substitute Lars Ricken scored seconds after taking the field in their 3-1 victory over Juventus.
By now though, the days of major football were numbered, as the stadium was not included in 2006 FIFA World Cup plans.
Bayern President Wilhelm Neudecker once complained, “It will always be a shortcoming that the Olympic Stadium is not completely covered.”
The last international football match was a World Cup qualifier in 2001, when England astonishingly inflicted a 5-1 defeat on the Germans.
Bayern took their leave of the stadium with a 6-3 victory over FC Nürnberg 6-3 in 2005 and moved to Allianz Arena. After 793 matches, of which 579 were won, watched by 31,318,820 spectators.
The stadium had also been used by TSV Munchen 1860 but more recently Türkgücü have also played home matches there as they continued their progress from the lower leagues.
In 2006, the New Year had a different attraction when the stadium hosted the opening sprint stages of the inaugural cross-country Tour de Ski..
Legendary Norwegian Marit Bjørgen and Switzerland’s Christoph Eigenmann came in first that day.
Last autumn, German table tennis star Sabine Winter played on the roof of the stadium to promote the 2022 European Championships.
These featured athletics in the Olympic Stadium 20 years after the sport’s European Championships were first held in Munich in the summer of 2002.
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