The International Olympic Committee officially rejected a request to hold a moment of silence for the Munich 11 at the London Olympics this summer.

“The IOC has officially paid tribute to the memory of the athletes on several occasions,” IOC President Jacques Rogge wrote in a letter dated May 15.

The request for the moment of silence at the opening ceremonies was initiated by the families of the athletes. Eleven Israeli athletes and coaches were killed at the 1972 Games in Germany by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.

Rogge’s letter was in response to an official request filed last month by Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister.

The Israel National Olympic Committee will hold its own memorial ceremony during the Games, as it has at every Olympics.

Israel has regularly requested a moment of silence at the Olympics; the IOC has consistently turned down that proposal.

Reps. Nita Lowey and Eliot Engel, both New York Democrats, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League also had called on the IOC to approve the moment of silence. — jta