Amitzur Shapira was an Israeli Olympic track coach murdered in the 1972 Munich massacre. In 2010 the opening said he and 10 other Israeli team members 'were taken hostage by Arab terrorists at the games,' then 'held hostage and later murdered on the tarmac of Furstenfeldbruck airbase.' Today the opening says only that 'He was killed in the Munich massacre,' with the hostage-taking and the identification of Arab terrorists as the perpetrators gone. A reader today learns he died in the Munich massacre, not that he was taken hostage by Arab terrorists and murdered on an airport tarmac during a failed rescue.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “hostage” appeared 2 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Amitzur Shapira ( ; 1932 - September 6, 1972) was one of the best Israeli short distance runners in the 1950s. At the time of his death he was also one of the country's best track coaches. Amitzur Shapira was born in Israel and was a resident in Herzliya .1When Shapira went to the 1972 Summer Olympics he was the head coach for the Israeli track and field team.2During the 1972 Olympics he and 10 other members of the Israel Olympic team were taken hostage by Arab terrorists at the games . Two of the Israelis were shot in the beginning of the ordeal and the other nine (including Shapira) were held hostage and then later were murdered on the tarmac of Furstenfeldbruck airbase during a botched rescue attempt by Munich police and Bavarian border guards. Amitzur Shapira was best known as the coach of Esther Shachamarov who later became one of the best all-time Israeli Olympic athletes (in 1976, she became the first Israeli to reach an Olympic final). When she heard the news that her coach had been murdered she withdrew from the 1972 Olympics. Amitzur Shapira is buried in Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv .3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 370691249.
The opening as it stood in 2015 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Amitzur Shapira ( ; July 9, 1932 - September 6, 1972) was an Israeli sprinter and long jumper in the 1950s and a coach for the Israeli track and field team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.He was murdered by Palestinian fighters in the Munich massacre .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 619118948.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Amitzur Shapira ( ; July 9, 1932 – September 6, 1972) was an Israeli sprinter and long jumper in the 1950s and a coach for the Israeli track and field team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich massacre .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 961021296.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Amitzur Shapira ( ; 9 July 1932 – 6 September 1972) was an Israeli sprinter and long jumper . He was head coach for the Israeli track and field team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich massacre .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178007992.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Israeli athlete and Munich Massacre victim Amitzur Shapira ( Hebrew : עמיצור שפירא ; 9 July 1932 – 6 September 1972) was an Israeli sprinter and long jumper . He was head coach for the Israeli track and field team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He was killed in the Munich massacre .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1287680294. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
“hostage” appeared 2 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
hostage
2
0
0
0
0
terror
1
0
1
1
0
massacre
0
1
1
1
2
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2025.
Then
one of the best israeli short distance runners in the 1950s
Now
israeli sprinter and long jumper
Where the word went
It left the opening. It did not leave the article. Wikipedia moved it down the page, where a reader arriving from a search result will not reach it.
“terror” now appears 1× under Biography, 33% of the way down the article
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
