"When I'm there with the people who managed to survive, it will erupt again, all the emotions"

The legendary runner Esther Roth-Shahmorov, who was part of the delegation of athletes to Munich in the 1972 Olympics, where 11 members of the delegation were murdered by terrorists, will return to Munich this week, for a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the terrible event.

"Since I came back after the tragedy, I haven't stopped dealing with the issue," she says

Esther Roth-Shakhmorov

04/09/2022

Sunday, September 04, 2022, 07:00 Updated: 08:25

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"reviving them".

The runner Esther Roth Shakhamorov (photo: Barney Ardov)

The question of what I remember about the murder of the athletes in Munich is irrelevant, because from the moment I returned after the tragedy, I did not stop dealing with the issue and did not stop, which I also took it upon myself to be the representative, the mouth of those who were murdered.

One of them was my coach Amitzur Shapira who told me "I'm with you, together we reach the Olympics", and then I come back alive alone.

After the Olympics, many of the participants gathered in their homes, each immersed in what and how he experienced this pain.

I was among the youngest participants, just at the beginning of my career.

I decided to move on and when I started going to competitions, I felt like I was reviving them because all the media were on me and wanted to hear what happened.

Roth Shakhmarov in a meeting with Prime Minister Rabin, in 1976 (Photo: National Photo Collection)

I didn't stop for a single moment commemorating the murdered, talking about the issue, and when you see me in Israel there is not a person who doesn't talk to me about how he experienced those events, how he felt.

It is a lasting memory.

There are many moments that I remember.

The good memory is that I reached what is perhaps the dream of every athlete, after six years of training.

I beat athletes, champions.

The world didn't know how to eat me.

It was a major leap that was suddenly cut short, and then it fell off the agenda in terms of importance, because of the tragedy.

The Olympics continued as usual.

I was in the semifinals exactly.

I wasn't even interested in what my result was, if I could reach the final - everything was dwarfed by life itself.

Today I was at a screening of a film about those events.

I saw myself there, 19 and a half years old.

I saw the runs and I saw the mourning after the murder.

It threw me back.

I really cried.

More in Walla!

German government: We will pay compensation to the families of the 11 athletes who were murdered at the Munich Olympics

To the full article

Roth Shakhmarov in the competition (Photo: AP)

with the members of the Olympic delegation in 1972.

"A major jump that was interrupted" (Photo: Courtesy of those photographed)

The meaning of the ceremony is that you can feel the change that took place not in us, but in the Germans.

We thought at first that they were trying to obscure, hide, they hid documents and were not nice.

They did not want to receive us.

If they took me, for example, to the stadium to take a photo, the gates were not opened at the place I arrived.

But times have changed, governments have changed.

Germany was headed by Angela Merkel for many years, followed by Olaf Schulz.

The Olympic Committee is now headed by Thomas Bach.

They feel sympathy for Israel, which is expressed in a ceremony that symbolizes change.

In the past they worked to hide, but what they tried to hide was eventually discovered.

In Israel we hold a ceremony every year.

We don't need the Germans' ceremony, but the fact that they see importance in conducting it is significant.

When I saw the events in the film today, they looked different to me.

It's true that I talk about them and mention them and don't forget them, but when I saw myself in my youth, and how sad we were, and how shocked the people were, the emotions broke out.

I assume that even when I am there, with the families, with the people who managed to survive, with the representatives of the Olympic Committee, it will erupt again.

All the feelings.

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