The beauty of Munich's Olympic stadium stood in stark contrast to the ugliness of a terrorist attack that marred the 20th Olympiad and left 11 athletes, five terrorists and one policeman dead.

On the morning of September 5, eight Palestinian terrorists broke into the Olympic village and headed for the dormitory where Israeli athletes were sleeping. Two athletes were killed instantly and nine others were taken hostage.

The terrorists called for the release from Israeli jails of 200 Palestainian prisoners. Pursued by West German police, the gunmen made their way to a military airport but the exchange of fire that ensued ended in the death of all hostages. The Games were suspended for 34 hours and a memorial service was held in the stadium after Avery Brundage, the IOC president, declared: "The Games must go on."

They did go on, with the Olympic flag at half-mast. Munich marked a significant rise in the numbers competitors taking part. A total of 7,123 athletes, including 1,058 women, from 112 nations took part in 195 events.

The undisputed star of the show was Mark Spitz, the US swimmer whose seven gold medals remain a record in their own right. His four individual successes came in the 100 and 200m freestyle and butterfly, and he was a member of the winning 4 by 100m, 4 by 200m freestyle and 4 by 100m medley.

Swimming also produced the most successful woman of the Games, Shane Gould, the Australian who set every world freestyle record from 100 to 1,500m simultaneously in the run-up to Munich and won more individual medals than Spitz.

At the Games, "Die Goldfisch", as she was knicknamed by the German media, won the 200 and 400m freestyle and 200m medley in world record times, and took the silver medal over 800m freestyle and the bronze in the 100m freestyle.

Mascot of the Games was Olga Korbut, the tiny Soviet gymnast who caught the public's imagination on her way to three gold medals.

On the track, Lasse Viren, of Finland, won the 5,000 and 10,000m titles to emulate his compatriot Paavo Nurmi, winner of nine gold medals from 1920 to 1928, while the world wowed at the talent of Kip Keino, the Kenyan who had won the 1,500m and finished second over 5,000m in Mexico and in Munich added the gold medal in the 3,000m steeplechase and a silver in the 1,500m. One of the sensations of the Games was 16-year-old Ulrike Meyfarth, who equalled the world record to win the high jump and become the youngest ever track and field event winner.

The Soviet Union had worked hard in the face of being beaten on the medals table by the US at the two previous Games and emerged stronger than ever in Munich with 50 victories dwarfing the US tally of 33.

The GDR, high on what we now know to have been a state-run drugs programme, leapt into the medals frame with 20 victories to push hosts, West Germany into fourth place, with 13. Britain took four titles, the most celebrated that of Mary Peters in the decathlon, to finish 12th.