50 years after the 1972 Olympics: Kiel celebrates anniversary: "Burnt into Germany's collective sporting memory"

Germany's "Sailing City" Kiel is setting sail for a very special anniversary celebration: 50 years after the 1972 Olympic Games and the Olympic regatta with six classes off Kiel, the historic sporting event will be celebrated with a four-week sports and cultural festival from 8 August to 8 September at the Kiel-Schilksee Olympic Centre and throughout the city.

Kiel's Lord Mayor Ulf Kämpfer (SPD) has now presented the programme together with Schleswig-Holstein's Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU) and DSV President Mona Küppers. Kämpfer said: "Kiel owes the Olympics unforgettable days in the late summer of 1972 - but also a major boost for the city's development. Reason enough to revive the Olympic idea in the city's society 50 years later." Thomas Weikert, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), joined the presentation via video and reminded the audience that "the 1972 Olympic Games are etched in Germany's collective sporting memory" and had and still have a "massive impact on the entire sporting system in Germany".

Looking back: In April 1966, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the XX. Summer Olympic Games to Munich. Kiel was named as the venue for the sailing competitions around a year later. The heart of the sailing Olympians was to be Schilksee, where the Olympic Centre was built between 1968 and 1972 on the former site of a naval depot. Schilksee harbour, today the home of the athletes in the German Sailing Team, had to be doubled in size to provide enough berths for the sailors. An additional 600 berths were created in the Düsternbrook, Strande, Wik, Laboe and Möltenort marinas to accommodate the expected influx of visiting boats.

For the state capital, hosting the 1972 Olympic sailing competitions was an "opportunity of the century", according to Kiel's mayor at the time, Günther Bantzer. It also had a major impact on the city's urban development and the expansion of its transport routes. Kiel was the last state capital in Germany to be connected to the motorway network. A second Holtenau high bridge was built. The B 503, the Fördestraße and the Barkauer Kreisel roundabout have also existed since 1972. 26 August 1972 saw the opening of the Olympic Games in Munich. One day later, middle-distance runner Wulf Kock from KSV Holstein lit the Olympic flame in the presence of many thousands of spectators on the town hall square. On 28 August, the opening ceremony of the Olympic sailing competitions took place in Schilksee. Sailors from 42 nations marched in with their flags during the ceremony. Marines hoisted the Olympic flag and the sailor Philipp Lubinus lit the fire wreath with his torch. The following day, the starting signal was given for the Olympic regatta with 318 participants. Here is one of many reviews of that time that can be found on YouTube (please click!).

German sailors won a total of three medals in 1972. Willi Kuhweide and Karsten Meyer won bronze for the Federal Republic of Germany in the Star boat, Ulrich Libor and Peter Naumann won bronze in the Flying Dutchman. Paul Borowski, Karl-Heinz Thun and Konrad Weichert won the silver medal in the Dragon for the GDR. Australia was the most successful 50 years ago with two gold medals. Key figures for the games in Kiel were the chairman of the "Committee for Olympic Sailing Competitions" Berthold Beitz and race director Otto Schlenzka. Both were later made honorary citizens of Kiel.

The XX. Olympic Games were held under the motto "cheerful games". They were overshadowed by the terrorist attack on the Israeli team in the Olympic village in Munich on 5 September. All competitions were cancelled and on 6 September the victims of the attack were commemorated in a simple ceremony - also in Schilksee. The 1972 Olympic sailing regattas established Kiel's reputation as the "World City of Sailing": the successful organisation of the races gave rise to the motto "Do it like in Kiel" among sailors, which still carries weight among international regatta organisers today.

Sport will once again be at the centre of the celebrations in the anniversary year. One of the event highlights in August and September will be the International German Youth Sailing Championships, where around 1,200 Olympians of tomorrow will be competing from 10 to 16 August in the Olympic sailing area off Schilksee. From 17 to 21 August, 450 athletes will meet for the "revival" of the 1972 Olympic sailing regattas in the former Olympic classes Finn, Flying Dutchman, Star, Tempest, Dragon and Soling. Click here for the event homepage with all programme details (please click!).