Mark Slavin (, ; 31 January 1954 – 6 September 1972) was an Israeli Olympic Greco-Roman

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

and victim of the Munich massacre at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

. He was the youngest of the victims at the age of 18. He was taken

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

with eight other Israeli

athletes An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including trac ...

. Slavin was shot by machine gun

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

in a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

during a botched

rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, removal from danger, liberation from restraint, or the urgent treatment of injury, injuries after an incident. It may be facilitated by a range of tools and equipm ...

attempt. Slavin was born in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Belarus SSR, and had taken up wrestling as a youth to defend himself against

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

attacks. Slavin soon became noted as a talented wrestler, and won the Soviet

Greco-Roman wrestling Greco-Roman (American English), Graeco-Roman (British English), or classic wrestling (Euro-English) is a style of wrestling that is practiced worldwide. Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been i ...

middleweight junior championship in 1971. Slavin had moved to Israel just four months before the Olympic games and he joined Hapoel Tel Aviv and the Israeli Olympic Team. The 1972 Olympics was due to be his first international competition for Israel, and Slavin had been considered Israel's most likely medal winner at the Munich games. Slavin had been staying in Unit 3 at 31

Connollystraße The Connollystraße is a street in the Olympic Village and student quarter of the Olympic Park Munich. Description The street was named in 1971 after James Brendan Connolly, the first Olympic champion of the modern era (1896). It leads from ...

in the Olympic Village, with fellow wrestlers Gad Tsobari and Eliezer Halfin, and weightlifters David Berger,

Yossef Romano Yossef Romano (; 15 April 1940 – 5 September 1972), also known as Joseph Romano or Yossi Romano, was a Libya, Libyan-born Israeli weightlifter with the Israel at the 1972 Summer Olympics, Israeli team that went to the 1972 Summer Olympics ...

and Ze'ev Friedman. Slavin had been due to make his Olympic debut on the day heavily armed Palestinian terrorists broke into the Olympic Village and captured him while the Olympic athletes were still asleep.

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Mark Slavin
Munich 11 * 1954 births 1972 deaths Martial artists from Minsk Jewish Russian sportspeople Soviet Jews Soviet emigrants to Israel Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Belarusian male sport wrestlers Israeli male sport wrestlers Jewish sport wrestlers Victims of the Munich massacre Deaths by firearm in Germany Olympic wrestlers for Israel Wrestlers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Soviet male sport wrestlers Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery 20th-century Israeli sportsmen 20th-century Belarusian sportsmen {{paramilitary-action-stub