Kidnap and Death
On 5 September 1972, Gutfreund was sleeping in the Israeli coaches' quarters in the Olympic Village. At around 4:30 am he heard a noise outside the 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 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 and eight other members of Israeli's Olympic team were 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 6 September, Gutfreund was shot and killed by the terrorists during a failed rescue attempt by West German authorities.
Read more about this topic: Yossef Gutfreund
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death freely chosen, death at the right time, brightly and cheerfully accomplished amid children and witnesses: then a real farewell is still possible, as the one who is taking leave is still there; also a real estimate of what one has wished, drawing the sum of one’s life—all in opposition to the wretched and revolting comedy that Christianity has made of the hour of death.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)