Elias Katz

Elias Katz (born June 22, 1901 in Turku ; died December 24, 1947 near Gaza ) was a Finnish athlete .

Life

Katz took part in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris . In the 3000 meter obstacle course , he won the silver medal behind his compatriot Ville Ritola . Four days later, he won the gold medal in the 3,000-meter team race, finishing fifth, along with first Paavo Nurmi and second Ville Ritola. The top three of a nation came into the evaluation; there was no individual evaluation.

Katz was multiple Finnish champion and in 1926 with his Finnish club Turun Urheiluliitto from Turku also participated in two world records for club relays over 4 x 1500 meters in the line-up of Frej Liewendahl, Elias Katz, Niilo Koivunalho and Paavo Nurmi. From 1925 he occasionally started for Bar Kochba Berlin , the largest Jewish sports club at the time. In 1927 he went back to Finland to prepare for the 1928 Olympic Games, but missed qualification due to an injury. Subsequently, he started for Bar Kochba Berlin until 1933.

In 1933 Katz emigrated to Palestine. He was a member of the coaching staff that was supposed to prepare Israeli athletes for participation in the 1948 Olympic Games. Israel did not take part in the Olympic Games for the first time until 1952. Katz did not live to see Israel's first participation in the Olympics; he died at Christmas 1947 in a British army camp near Gaza. He worked there as a projectionist and was shot dead by Arab terrorists on the street after leaving the cinema.

In 1981 Elias Katz was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for Jewish Sports .

literature

• Werner Röder; Herbert A. Strauss (Ed.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-1945 . Volume 2.1. Munich: Saur, 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 600

Web links

• Hall of Fame
• Elias Katz in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )