Aly Raisman. Photo: Facebook.

Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman received a message of thanks on Wednesday for her decision to invoke the memories of the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed at the 1972 Olympics, following her gold medal performance in the floor routine.

Guri Weinberg, whose father was one of the Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 72′ Games in Munich, said it was valuable “to have that kind of support from such a young generation”, adding that “She’s got a lot to teach the IOC and the rest of the world about what’s right.”

The IOC turned down repeated requests for a minute of silence in honor of the slain Israelis, at this year’s opening ceremonies in London.

Raisman, the American gymnast who performed her gold medal floor routine to the tune of “Hava Nagila”, is also a proud Jewess.

“It’s important to me. I’m really happy that I chose the music, Hava Nagila, especially being at Olympics and having people clap to it. And it really means a lot to me and I’m proud of my heritage,” she said.

Weinberg also noted the airline passengers who decided to hold their very own minute of silence as their planes flew over Munich, just as the 2012 Summer Games were getting underway.

“I’m so thankful to all of them.  They are really teaching the younger generation what happened so this is not forgotten.”