Sportsיעקב שפרינגר

Yakov Springer

Yakov Springer was an Israeli weightlifting coach and international judge who was killed in the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympics.

1921 to 1972Victim of the Munich massacreCoaching Israel's weightlifting teamInternational weightlifting judge

Born: 10 June 1921, Kalisz
Died: 6 September 1972, Fürstenfeldbruck
Occupation: weightlifter, Olympic competitor

Yakov Springer was born in 1921 in Kalisz

Springer was born in Kalisz, Poland, in 1921. During the Holocaust he took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

He studied at the academy of physical education in Warsaw and qualified as a physical education teacher. He was also a boxer and became an international weightlifting judge. He headed the heavy athletics section of the Polish sports ministry and represented Poland at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics.

In 1957 he moved to Israel and settled in Bat Yam, where he taught physical education in schools. He also coordinated sports at a community club in Jaffa and worked with youth at risk.

Springer built up weightlifting in Israel by running courses for judges and founding a league. He coached the national weightlifting team for 15 years and represented Israel as an international judge.

At the 1972 Munich Olympics he served as a judge. Members of the Black September group took him and other Israelis hostage, and he was killed during a failed German rescue attempt at the airport. He was buried in Holon and left a wife and 2 children.