Article February 4, 2002 Issue

Overview of the Games

By Kim Shippey

Since their inauguration in 1896, the "modern" Olympic Games have mirrored the times in which they have been held.

World wars cancelled the Games in 1916, 1940, and 1944. Boycotts substantially reduced the number of competitors in Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980, and Los Angeles in 1984.

There was pre-World War II anxiety in Berlin in 1936, and fear of a North Korear assault on Seoul in 1988. At the Munich Games in 1972, eight Palestinians broke into the Olympic village with automatic weapons and hand grenades, leaving 11 Israeli team members dead.

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