.

80 Friday, July 27, 1984

,

.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

YEHUDA ATEDJI

YOEL SELA

Yachting

Yachting

•HADAR RUBINSTEIN

Swimming

ELDAD AMIR

ARIE SEUNGER

Yachting

Coach

SRAELIS TO END
LYMPIC. DROUGHT?

Thirty-three Israeli athletes will
compete in the Olympics, and
two yachtsmen hope to bring
the Jewish state its first medal.

MARK SPITZ

. BY TOM TUGEND

Special to The Jewish News

•
ith Zahava Shmueli, a
' 32-year-old marathon
runner and mother of two
carrying the blue and white flag, Is-
rael will join 141 other countries in
the opening ceremonies of the
XXIIIrd Olympiad tomorrow after-
noon.
Israel is fielding a team of 33
athletes, 25 men and eight women,
who will compete in 11 sports from
rhythmic gymnastics to yachting.
By -far the best chance for a
medal, which would be Israel's first
since the Jewish state started com-
peting in the Olympics in 1952, is
given to yachtsmen Eytan Friedlan-
der and Shimshon Brockman. The
two men Will race in tlia'470" Class
sailing event, in which they came in
third at last year's world cham-
pionship in England.
"We have as good a- chance as
any of the top eight entries," sailing
coach Yair Michaeli told The Jewish
News. -
The representation of Jewish
athletes from other countries will be
quite low this year, reflecting both

the Soviet bloc boycott and a gradual
worldwide decline in Jewish partici-
pation since the modern Games
started in 1896. •
On the American team, gymnast
Mitch Gaylord, who led UCLA to a
NCAA championship this year, is the
most likely Jewish sportsman to
wind up on the victory stand. Frees-
tyle swimmer Tiffany Cohen is given
a fair crack at a silver or bronze
medal. Coach Arie Sblinger, a hard-
driving ex-Israeli, may push his U.S.
women's volleyball team to a medal,
in the absence of the top-ranked
Cuban team.
With the roster of Olympic par-
ticipants still incomplete at press
time, and the backgrounds of many
others unknown, only two other
known Jewish athletes could be iden-
tified by Dr. George Eisen and Jim
Jacobsen,- two sports historians spe-
cializing on the Jewish role in ath-
letics.
Julian Ilarmenberg of Sweden, a
top fencer at the 1980 Olympics in
Moscow, is expected to do 'equally
well in Los Angeles. Another fencer,

11LIME:4
C(ALLUE
LIBRAkY, C
WAL TE!t ROTH! -1N, LIDAIOAP
p,TAlitrIAT!, WrIn•

.

HAROLD ABRAHAMS

Paul. Klenerman, and fencing coach
Allan Jan are the only Jews on the
British team.
The Israeli and Turkish teams
have been given the highest security
priorities by federal and local law
enforcement agencies. At the arrival
of the 52 Israeli athletes, coaches and
officials at Los Angeles airport, heav-
ily armed men blanketed the arrival
area, sharpshooters patrolled the
roofs of adjacent buildings and'police
helicopters circled overhead.
Once inside the Olympic Village

at UCLA, the Israeli delegation wa
officially welcomed by village maym,-. '. .),
Jim Easton in a brief but moving
ceremony. Responding for the team
was mission chief Shmuel
who has headed his country's squad§
during the last six Olympics and who
delivered the eulogy for the 11 is
raelis slain by PLO terrorists at the
1972 Olympiad in Munich.
• Israel Consul General Yaacov
Evan paid tribute to the 11 victims
and told the athletes that "your
presence here symbolizes Israel's '.1
dedication to freedom and the strug-
gle against terrorism."
•
Fencer Nili Drori raised Israel's
colors on the flagstaff to the recorded
strains ofHatikvah, The final order of
business at the ceremony, the taking
of the official team photo, hecame a
somewhat complex undertaking as
the athletes kept breaking ranks to
snap pictures of each other. •
Besides yachting and gymnas-
tics, the Israelis will also compete in
track and field, boxing, canoeing,
fencing, judo, shooting, swimming,
deknonstration tennis and weightlift-
in
Seventeen-year-old Detroiter
Nancy Goldsmith, an American high
school girl who won a gold medal for
the U.S. team at the last Maccabiah
Games and then stayed in Israel,
be among three women gymnasts re-
presenting Israel.
Another English-speaking corn-.
petitor on the team is Mark Hand
elsman, who was the South Africa

Continued on Page 38