Munich massacre: ‘He spoke good English’ – Hong Kong’s Ronnie Wong recalls A de O Sales heroics during Black September attack

Wong and two other athletes asked one of the terrorists to help them leave the compound where two Hong Kong coaches were stranded

Sales came face to face with the Black September leader, who helped him search for the trapped Hong Kong coaches

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Ronnie Wong Man-chiu was a 20-year-old swimmer at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Photo: Chan Kin-wa

Published: 9:23am, 9 Mar 2020Updated: 9:47am, 9 Mar 2020

Hong Kong Olympic official Ronnie Wong Man-chiu said he would never forget the day A de O Sales defied police orders to help bring two Hong Kong coaches to safety during tragic events of the Munich massacre at the 1972 Games.

Paying tribute to Sales, who died on Friday aged 100, Wong said he was one of three Hong Kong delegation members – along with fencer Matthew Chan and judo player Mok Cheuk-wing – who were forced to climb onto the roof of their athletes’ village building to escape the danger on September 5, 1972.

However, the judo and swimming coaches – their bodies too old and weak to climb out of their second-storey window – were stranded at the Hong Kong Olympic Committee’s office while terrorists from the Black September group patrolled the area with machine guns.

The terrorists were after the Israeli team, who were housed one floor below the Hong Kong team, eventually killing 11 athletes and one German police officer. All members of the terrorist group were eventually killed.

The late Russell McPhedran’s iconic photo of a terrorist at the Munich Olympic Games.

“Mr Sales was the key man to take these two coaches out,” Wong told the Post. “Once we got out, we did a headcount and realised that there were two people missing, the judo and swimming coaches.

“It was close to the deadline the terrorists gave before they said they would start killing athletes, so Mr Sales realised he must do something.