Officials here released today the names of the Israeli athletes held as hostages by the Arab terrorists. The officials also listed a tenth name but there was uncertainty as to whether the tenth individual actually was held by the terrorists. The nine hostages were listed as: Amitzur Shapira, a conch; Andre Spitzer, fencing coach; Jacob Sperling, a weight-lifting referee; Joseph Gutfruend, a wrestling referee; Elizer Halfin, a wrestler; Mark Slavin, a wrestler; David Berger, a weight-lifter; Zeev Friedman, a weight-lifter and Joseph Romano, a weight-lifter. The tenth name was given as Kchot Shor, a shooting trainer, but there was no other identification.
According to reports of those athletes who managed to escape, Gutfreund struggled with the attackers and tried to block their entrance. There are unconfirmed reports he was hit by terrorist gunfire. Halfin arrived two years ago from the Soviet Union. Slavin, 18, arrived in Israel only four months ago and made the Olympic team partly on the strength of his record as a wrestler in the USSR. Berger is a new immigrant from Cleveland, Ohio.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
