1972 Olympic Gold Medalist Returns to Bethany, Shares Memories of Munich
Kim North Trending
BETHANY -- Dave Wottle has a lot of good memories from his time at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. However, the 75-year-old also has a few not-so-good memories at the same time.
Wottle won the gold medal in the 800-meter run while wearing what would turn out to be an iconic golf cap. A few days later, eight men in tracksuits hopped the fence at Munich’s Olympic Village, carrying with them Kalashnikov rifles and grenades in duffel bags.
They were members of the group Black September -- an affiliate of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Their mission was to hold Israeli athletes hostage and demand the release of 236 prisoners: 234 in Israel and the two leaders of the West German Baader-Meinhof terrorist group. The mission failed. About 20 hours after it began, five of the hostage-takers would be dead, along with 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team and a West German policeman.
"We were very close to it, probably about 100 yards away," Wottle recalled of the attack. "I'm not sure it changed my life because it was a tragic event that occurred while we were competing. Frank Shorter was my roommate over there. He won gold in the marathon after the terrorist attacks and my events were sandwiched between them. I had already won the 800 but in the 1,500 there was a certain lull over the Olympics once it happened.
"The IOC decided to continue on with the Olympics. They surely weren't as special as before the attacks happened. It was on everybody's mind, but I'm still glad they continued the Olympics," he noted. "If they hadn’t, that would have shown that they gave in to the terrorists. I think the athletes came together and said 'yes it was a tragic event, but we want to keep competing.'
"Frank and I were probably only 50 yards away when the attack began," Wottle recalled. "There were three high-rise buildings. We were in the middle one just a stone's throw away from where the attacks were taking place. We heard the initial shot that went through the door and wounded the first Israeli, who eventually died. It was the middle of the night (4 a.m.) and we just thought it was a car backfiring. We didn't think a lot of it until we got up and realized what was going on."
As for his gold medal?
"I just keep it in a safety deposit box. They won't replace gold medals if you lose them ... they are just gone and I'm too old to win another one," he added. "I take it out once in a while and hold it."
The legacy of his hat still lives on.
"I was hurt during the entire 1971 season - indoor and outdoor - so I was officiating some track meets while I was injured. They gave me a hat and I started wearing it just like everyone else that wears a hat," he remembered. "I got used to wearing it and didn't see any reason not to wear it while I was running. I started wearing it during my comeback. Back then you were allowed to wear a hat during races, but they (the IOC) passed a ruling right after the Munich Olympics that you weren't allowed to wear a hat during track events."
The iconic hat, which he forgot to remove while standing on the podium during the awards ceremony, is at the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in the Armory in New York City.
"I always tell people that they put the hat into the Hall of Fame three years before they put me in. I get a kick out of that," Wottle said.
He was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1982. The hat went in in 1979.
Winning the gold abruptly brought change to Wottle's life.
"It changed my life. In the United States we are so zeroed in on being first and that second place is just that, second place," he said. "The fact that I won that race literally changed my life. If opened up doors that were unimaginable.
"When I applied to Bethany for the position of Director of Admissions, this is how naive I was, I didn't even mention that I had won a gold medal. I was going for a job in admissions and thought they could care less that I had won a gold medal."
What does he recall about the race itself?
"I went out fairly slow and was behind the pack. It's amazing because what I remember about the race is from the camera's eyes any more. After 50 years I have a hard time remembering what I was thinking during the race" he added. "I had doubts about myself. I was 10 yards behind the pack after 200 meters and, back then, that was a big no-no in the 800 because when you spot someone 10 yards in the 800 and that I could reel them in at the end. That doesn't usually happen, but then they slowed down in the second 200 meters of the first lap and that allowed me to reconnect with the pack. I started thinking again that I could do well. It was just a matter of re-focusing and thinking about the finish line.
"It was a tough race. I was in fourth-place with 100 meters to go and it didn't seem like I was gaining on them. Luckily they started to slow down and I sped up a little and was able to win a close one."
He seized the lead in the final stretch to beat pre-race favorite Yevgeny Arzhanov of the Soviet Union by just 0.03 seconds.
"I loved Bethany. I remember raising my two boys here when they were young. I built them a tree fort out in the woods behind our house. I was just enjoying the small-town life. It was a great place to raise a family. My daughter was born in Wheeling Hospital, so we have a West Virginian in our family. I made some life-long friends that I've kept up with over time.
"This weekend has been really special to see some of my former athletes for the first time in 40 years. We've all changed, so it was nice to catch up with them."