Ze'ev Friedman (10 June 1944 – 6 September 1972) was an Israeli flyweight weightlifter. A member of the Israeli Olympic team, he was killed in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.[1]

Ze'ev Friedman
זאב פרידמן
Born
Ze'ev Shlomovich Friedman

(1944-06-10)10 June 1944
Died6 September 1972(1972-09-06) (aged 28)
Cause of deathTerrorist attack
Body discoveredFürstenfeldbruck Air Base
Resting placeKiryat Shaul Cemetery, Tel Aviv
NationalityIsraeli
CitizenshipIsraeli
Occupation(s)Gymnast,Weightlifter
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Parent
  • Shlomo Friedman (father)
RelativesNina Friedman(sister)

Biography edit

 
Commemorative plaque, Munich

Ze'ev Friedman was born in Prokopyevsk, Soviet Union in 1944. In 1960, he moved from Poland to Israel. He began his sports career as a gymnast, but later switched to weightlifting. He was a member of Hapoel Kiryat Haim sports club.[2] He won a bronze medal at the 1971 Asian Weightlifting Championships.

In 1972, Ze'ev Friedman competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany as a weightlifter. He placed 12th, one of the best achievements of any Israeli athlete at the time. On 5 September, members of the Palestinian Black September group broke into the Israeli team's dormitory and took hostage several Israeli athletes and coaches including Friedman. After protracted negotiations, the kidnappers brought the hostages to an airport via helicopter and killed them during an attempted rescue by Munich police and Bavarian border guards. The autopsy report, by the Forensic Institute of the University of Munich, concluded that Friedman had died from internal bleeding and also noted that a watch worn by the 28-year old weight lifter was still ticking when the autopsy began, giving a time of 7:51pm.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ "Jewish Sports Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  2. ^ "Jewish Sports Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  3. ^ Germany, SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg (4 December 2015). "Munich Olympic Terrorist Attacks: German Ex-Interior Minister Disputes Torture Claims - SPIEGEL ONLINE - International". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 14 August 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading edit

  • Groussard, S. (New York, 1975), The Blood of Israel: The massacre of the Israeli athletes, The Olympics, 1972 ISBN 0-688-02910-8