Elias Katz - Biography

Elias Katz (June 22, 1901 – December 24, 1947) was a Finnish athlete who competed mainly in the 3000 metre steeple chase.

He was Jewish, and born in Turku. He competed for Finland in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France in the 3000 metre steeple chase where he won the silver medal. He then joined with two of the greatest distance runners Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola to win the gold medal in the 3000m team race as well.

Invited to join the Bar Kochba Jewish sports club in Berlin in 1924, he left Germany in 1933 because of anti-Semitism.

Katz immigrated to Palestine, where, as a trainer and sports manager for the Maccabi organization, he was chosen to coach the country's track team in the 1948 Games.

In December 1947 during the Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, while working as a film operator at a British army camp near Gaza, he was killed in a strike by Arab militants.

See also

• List of select Jewish track and field athletes

External links

• Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Track & Field (Men): 3000-Meter Steeplechase". In The Complete Book of the Olympics - 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press, Limited. pp. 168–9.