- Elias Katz
Elias Katz (
June 22 ,1901 –December 24 ,1947 ) was a Finnish athlete who competed mainly in the 3000 metre steeple chase.He competed for Finland in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in
Paris ,France in the 3000 metre steeple chase where he won thesilver medal . He then joined with two of the greatest distance runnersPaavo Nurmi andVille Ritola to win thegold medal in the 3000m team race as well.Invited to join the
Bar Kochba Jewish sports club inBerlin in 1924, he left Germany in 1933 because ofanti-Semitism .Katz immigrated to
Israel , where as a trainer and sports manager for theMaccabi organization, he was chosen to coach the country's track team in the 1948 Games.In December 1947, while working as a film operator at a British army camp near
Gaza , he was murdered byArab terrorists.References
*Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Track & Field (Men): 3000-Meter Steeplechase". In "The Complete Book of the Olympics - 2008 Edition". London: Aurum Press, Limited. pp. 168-9.
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