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Eduard Meron

Eduard Meron is an Arab-Israeli former weightlifter who represented Israel at the 1960 Rome Olympics, the first Arab to represent Israel at the Olympic Games.

born 1937First Arab Israeli OlympianWeightlifting at the 1960 OlympicsIsraeli weightlifting records

Occupation: weightlifter

Eduard Meron was born in 1937 in Haifa

Eduard Meron was born in Haifa in 1937 to a Maronite Christian family of Lebanese origin. In 1956, while working in a carpentry shop in Haifa, he broke into a burning apartment and rescued a 6-month-old baby.

He began training seriously in weightlifting in 1957. In July 1959 he won first place in the bantamweight class at the ASKÖ Games in Linz, Austria, his first international event. At the 1960 Rome Olympics he lifted a total of 270 kg, set new Israeli records in the press and snatch, and carried the Israeli flag at the opening ceremony.

After the Olympics he coached weightlifters at Hapoel Yokneam. At the 1961 World Championships in Vienna he set a new Israeli total record of 295 kg, and in 1961 he won silver at the Maccabiah Games. In 1963 he won gold in the featherweight class at the workers' sports festival in Salzburg.

In 1964 he did not reach the Olympic standard and was left out of the team for Tokyo. He retired from the sport after the Munich massacre, in which his coach and teammates were killed. His leg was amputated in 1996 due to illness, and he suffered a severe stroke in 2003.