Eliezer Halfin

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Eliezer Halfin (born June 18, 1948 in Riga , † September 6, 1972 in Fürstenfeldbruck ) was an Israeli wrestler who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich Olympic attack .

Halfin was born in the Soviet Union . His father was an ethnic Latvian whose first wife and children did not survive the Riga ghetto during World War II . Eliezer Halfin began freestyle wrestling at the age of ten . His best result in his native country was a fourth place in national youth championships.

In 1969 he moved to Israel , where he joined the Hapoel Tel Aviv club. At an international tournament in Bucharest in 1971 , Halfin reached second place, a year later in a competition in Greece 3rd place. Only seven months before the 1972 Olympic Games , he took on the Israeli citizenship. Shortly before leaving for Munich, he finished his military service and trained as a car mechanic at Volkswagen .

In Munich he competed in the lightweight (up to 68 kg) and fought in the first round against the Turk Ali Şahin , to whom he was defeated. In round 2 he defeated the six years older Indian Jagrup Singh and qualified for round 3. Here he played his last competition on August 29, 1972 against József Rusznyák . The Hungarian shouldered Halfin after 4 minutes and 50 seconds.

Burial site in the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv; Israel. (third grave from the left)

After the competition, he did not leave the Olympic village but stayed in Munich to support his comrades. In the early morning hours of September 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists from the Black September organization broke into the quarters of the Israeli team and killed the trainer Moshe Weinberg and the weightlifter Josef Romano . They took Halfin and eight other athletes and supervisors hostage. During the unsuccessful rescue attempt at the Fürstenfeldbruck airfield , Halfin died at the age of 24 from a hostage taker's weapon.

Eliezer Halfin was buried with four of his teammates in the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Eliezer Halfin, Freestyle Wrestler ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The 1972 Israeli Olympic Athletes Tribute (accessed December 2, 2009)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / munich11.com
  2. ↑ Eliezer Halfin Biography and Olympic Results www.sports-reference.com (accessed December 2, 2009)
personal data
SURNAME Halfin, Eliezer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli wrestler, member of the Israeli Olympic wrestling team (1972)
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1972
Place of death Fürstenfeldbruck