Yossef Gutfreund

Yossef Gutfreund (1932 - September 6, 1972) was an Israeli wrestling judge for his country's 1972 Olympic team. He was killed in the Munich massacre by Black September terrorists along with 10 other members of the Israeli team.

Kidnap and death

On September 5, 1972, Gutfreund was sleeping in the Israeli coaches' quarters in the Olympic Village. At around 4:30 am he heard a noise outside of his apartment's door and went to investigate, thinking that it might be wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, who had the other key to the door. He saw the door begin to open and caught a glimpse of masked men with guns on the other side. He threw his considerable (132 kilograms) weight against the door to try to hold it closed when the intruders attempted to push their way into the apartment, and screamed a warning which allowed his roommate, weightlifting coach Tuvia Sokolovsky, to smash a window and escape. In the adjacent Apartment 2, race-walker Dr. Shaul Ladany was jolted awake by Gutfreund's screams and also managed to escape the building. Gutfreund's herculean efforts kept the intruders out for valuable seconds, but he and eight other members of Israeli's Olympic team were subsequently captured by the terrorists. Two others who resisted the kidnappers, wrestling coach Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano, were killed by the intruders during the initial break-in.

Twenty-one hours later, on September 6, Gutfreund was shot and killed by the terrorists during a failed rescue attempt by West German authorities. He was 40 years old.

ee also

*Munich Olympics massacre
*Black September