Shlomit Nir
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Shlomit Nir (שלומית ניר; also "Nir-Toor"; born November 7, 1952) is an Israeli former Olympic swimmer.[1][2]
Early life
She was born and raised on a kibbutz in Tiberias, HaTzafon, Israel.[1][3][4]
Swimming career
She competed for Israel at the 1965 Maccabiah Games, winning the gold medal in the women's 200 metre breastroke at the age of 14.[5][6][4]
She competed for Israel at the 1968 Summer Olympics, at the age of 15, in Ciudad de México.[1] Swimming in the Women's 100 metre Breaststroke she took 3rd in her heat with a time of 1:20.9. Swimming in the Women's 200 metre Breaststroke she took 5th in her heat, again with a time of 1:20.90.[1]
She competed for Israel at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.[3] In swimming, she won bronze medals in the 100 m breaststroke, in 1:20.6, and in the 200 m breaststroke, in 2:54.3.
She competed for Israel at the 1972 Summer Olympics, at the age of 19, in Munich, Germany.[1] Swimming in the Women's 100 metre Breaststroke she took 5th in her heat with a time of 2:58.5. Swimming in the Women's 200 metre Breaststroke she took 6th in her heat with a time of 2:53.60.[1] When she competed in the Olympics, she was 5-6.5 (170 cm) tall, and weighed 146 lbs (66 kg).[1]
Munich massacre
She was at the Olympic Village during the Munich Massacre. Nir had planned to return to Israel soon after her race, so she could marry her fiancé.[2] But the head of the Israeli team requested she wait to travel back with an injured fellow athlete.[2] On that day others on the Israeli team were attacked and taken hostage in their dorms.[2][7] Nir wasn't taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorists, because she had been staying in another building.[2] But the next day, she witnessed the Israeli hostages being taken to the helicopters.[2] "I remember the last time we saw our friends," says Nir.[2] German authorities had taken the remaining Israeli team members and coaches to the ninth floor of the building.[2] From the window, Nir watched as the two helicopters landed on the Olympic Village lawn.[2] They were supposed to be taking the terrorists and the hostages to an airbase in Fürstenfeldbruck, and from there to Cairo.[2] "We watched from the ninth floor window as the two buses arrived. Four blindfolded athletes with their hands tied together got off the first bus. They were put on the first helicopter. Then, another five hostages got off the second bus and climbed onto the second helicopter. That was the last image we saw. Although we were on the ninth floor, we could still see it well.”[2] Hours later, the she learned that all nine hostages had been killed in a failed German rescue operation at the airbase.[2] A total of 11 Israelis were killed by the Palestinian terrorist group that called itself "Black September.[2]
For a year she kept having nightmares that she was "running away from the Arabs," underneath the Olympic village. "I saw this place, the same location all the time, I couldn't run out of it."[8] "I would always be running, and terrorists with masks were chasing me."[9]
Since the 1972 Munich Games, Nir has regularly attended commemorations for the killed athletes and met with fellow survivors.[2]
Later career
She as of 2012 worked for the Israel Ministry of Sport, and was Director of the Unit for the Advancement of Women in Sports at the Sport Management division of the Ministry of Education.[2][10][11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Shlomit Nir Bio, Stats, and Results".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Remembering the Munich 1972 Olympic attack - Germany - DW.COM - 04.09.2012".
- ^ a b "Founders".
- ^ a b "Maccabi World Review". Maccabi World Union. 1 January 1966 – via Google Books.
- ^ Galily, Yair; Ben-Porat, Amir (31 October 2013). "Sport, Politics and Society in the Land of Israel: Past and Present". Routledge – via Google Books.
- ^ "The Fresno Bee The Republican from Fresno, California · Page 26".
- ^ Reeve, Simon (1 January 2011). "One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation "Wrath of God" : with a New Epilogue". Skyhorse Publishing Inc. – via Google Books.
- ^ ABRAHAMSON, ALAN (5 September 2002). "BLACK September" – via LA Times.
- ^ "Terrorism destroyed idealism, medal hopes Israel's Rot still copes with '72 aftermath".
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Who we are - Bari Li".