Dan Alon

Dan Alon (Hebrew: דן אלון‎; 28 March 1945 – 31 January 2018) was an Israeli fencer. He competed in the individual foil event at the 1972 Summer Olympics, at the age of 27.[1] He was placed fourth in round one with three wins (defeating John Bouchier-Hayes of Ireland, Arcangelo Pinelli of Italy, and Klaus Reichert of West Germany) and two losses and advanced to round two.[1] There, he placed fifth with two wins (defeating Omar Vergara of Argentina and František Koukal of Czechoslovakia) and three losses, and was eliminated.[1]

He was among six Israeli team members who avoided being captured by terrorists in the Munich massacre.[2] He and four teammates were in apartment 2 of the building at Connollystraße 31, and while the terrorists captured the Israeli residents in nearby apartments 1 and 3, they passed by this apartment, presumably led to believe by one of the kidnapped Israelis that this apartment was not occupied by Israelis. All five residents of apartment 2 managed to leave the building through the garden and flee to safety.

In 2012, Alon released a book entitled Munich Memoir, co-authored by Carla Stockton, recounting his experiences at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and the impact on his life.

On 26 July 2013, Alon wrote a public letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urging Israel's cooperation in a lawsuit brought against the Bank of China by the parents of an American teenager killed in a 2006 terrorist attack.[3]

Alon died from cancer on 31 January 2018 at age 72.[4]