THE FIRE LAST TIME

By MICHAEL KRANTZ

The image is seared in our collective memory: an armed and hooded figure peering over a dormitory balcony in Munich, Germany, the setting for what remains the bloodiest incident in Olympic history.

It began in the predawn darkness of Sept. 5, 1972, when eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September scaled the wire fence surrounding the Olympic Village and burst into the apartments housing the Israeli contingent--fatally shooting two athletes before taking hostage nine more. Much of the excruciating and often surreal 20-hour stalemate that followed was played out live on television, an eerie prelude to last week's onscreen horror.

The terrorists demanded the release of some 200 Arab prisoners languishing in Israeli jails. Israel rejected the prisoner releases but authorized West Germany to take whatever measures might be necessary to free the hostages. The terrorists and their captives were taken by bus and helicopter to Furstenfeldbruck air base, where a Lufthansa jet was set to fly them to Cairo. Then to the world's horror, the police assault intended to stop them went tragically awry.

The final death toll: 11 Israelis, five Palestinians, one German policeman and whatever remained of the innocence of the Olympic Games. Some found fault with the "Games must go on" urgings of then Olympics chairman Avery Brundage and the bumbling of the West German authorities, whose miscalculations led to what many considered an unnecessary bloodbath on the tarmac.

"This tragedy brings me back to the nightmare in Munich," says Ilana Romano, widow of an Israeli weight lifter who perished in the bloody dormitory. She came to Atlanta last week to ask the International Olympic Committee to set aside a moment of silence to honor the "Munich 11." Now the Olympic community has fresh losses to mourn. "The terrorists have succeeded," says Romano. "The Olympic Games are bloody again."

--By Michael Krantz. Reported by Susanna Schrobsdorff/Atlanta

With reporting by SUSANNA SCHROBSDORFF/ATLANTA