THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
is gymnastic team mates call
H
him "Hollywood Mitch," as
much for his good looks as his flashy
style on the horizontal bars.
But it was a quiet, soft-spoken Mit-
chell Gaylord, yamulke on head, who
welcomed the entire Israeli Olympic
team to' "my shul" during Friday
evening services at Stephen S. Wise
Temple.
A few days later, Gaylord's bril-
liant performance on the rings was to
help lead his team to a gold medal in
an upset victory over the Chinese.
Last Saturday evening in the in-
dividual apparatus finals, Gaylord
showed his skill by winning three me-
dals: the silver on the vault, the
bronze on the rings and the bronze on
the parallel bars.
But on that Erev Shabbat, the
23-year old Gaylord was more in-
. terested in talking about his Jewish
upbringing and especially about his
1981 visit to Israel, which he de-
. scribed as "perhaps the most ex-
citing experience of my life."
On that trip, as a member of the
American team to the Maccabiah
games, Mitch won seven gold medals
in gymnastics, while his older brother
Chuck garnered two more in the
same sport. In the past several years,
Mitch has won a host of national and
international gymnastic competi-
tions, both in team and individual
events. In 1984, he was selected
NCAA Collegiate Gymnastic Cham-
pion. -
His Jewish education started with
kindergarten at the same Stephen S.
Wise Temple, a large, handsome
Reform congregation of which his
parents were founding members. He
celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and con-
firmation there, studying at the '
Religious School until the age of 16,
including four years of Hebrew.
Recently, recalling the thrills of
some of his athletic victories, he com-
pared them to the emotional high of
his Bar Mitzvah celebration. His
mother Linda, also athletic, teaches
Israeli folk dancing to children's
groups.
The 33 Israeli athletes, who attend-
ed the services in their team-issued
blue-and-white yamulkes, have, as ex-
pected, enjoyed only modest success
in competition.
Currently, the best showing has
been by weightlifter Meir Deluya,
who placed a respectable tenth in the
114.5-pound class. Israel's yachts-
men were still in serious contention,
while the two women gymnasts plac-
ed disappointingly among the last in
their sport. Zehava Shmueli ran in
the women's marathon Sunday, fi-
nishing 30th among the 44 runners
who finished the race.
Other Israelis have been partici-
pating in track and field, Swimming,
judo, boxing, fencing, canoeing,
shooting and tennis.
However, off the field, the Israelis
have been the focus of considerable
media attention. In
• a ceremony car-,
I ' a • • • •
• •
International Olympic Committee
(IOC) to honor the victims by gran-
ting at least a moment of silence at
the Games' opening ceremony, on the
grounds that it might inject "poli-
tics" into the Olympics. No IOC
member showed up for the City Hall
ceremony.
Although all formal appearances
by the Israeli team have been sha-
dowed by heavy security, individual
athletes have been able to slip out to
the beach and for dates in Westwood,
adjoining the UCLA Olympic Vil-
lage.
In the first heady days after their
arrival, a few of the more carefree
men went sightseeing on their own,
sporting T-shirts with the Israeli
Olympic emblem, but security clamps
, subsequently tightened considerably.
Nevertheless, the male athletes
have continued to enjoy unabashed
popularity among the local female
population, both among young wo-
men working at the Olympic Village
and Jewish ladies attending official
receptions for the team. According to
observations by this eyewitness, the
advances have not been rebuffed by
the Israeli sportsmen.
Another upbeat note: In the in-
tense trading market in national
Olympic pins, the Israeli pin — in
contrast to the shekel — is counted
as one of the most valuable.
Jewish participation on other na-
tional teams has been low compared
to previous Olympiads, with about a
dozen (besides Gaylord) on the
American team, three with - the
British and two Canadians.
There was a brief flurry of excite-
ment that U.S. swimmer Tiffany
Cohen had won the initial "Jewish"
medal when she took the gold in the
400-meter freestyle. A closer check
revealed that although Tiffany's
father is Jewish, her mother is
Catholic and the 18-year old swim-
mer has not been raised as a Jew.
(There is also a Richard Cohen on
the British fencing team, who is not
Jewish. As the man said, "What's in
a name?")
An odd sidelight of the Games is
that' both the American women's
volleyball team and the West Ger-
man men's basketball team are
coached by ex-Israelis.
Arie Selinger, the hard-driving
volleyball coach, was born in Poland,
survived the concentration camps as
a child, and came to Israel after
World War II. He became a player
and then coach for Israel and was
signed on as U.S. coach in 1975.
Ralph Klein, the basketball coach,
was born in Berlin. His father was
killed at Auschwitz, and he arrived
in Israel in 1950. Klein was a star
basketball player and then coach for
the Tel Aviv Maccabi athletic club
and only last year took over the Ger-
man team.
Klein has been bitterly attacked by
many Israelis, including Ktiesset
CH
His good looks and flashy style have
earned U,S. gymnast Mitchell Gaylord a
glamorous nickname.
BY TOM TUGEND
Special'to The Jewish News
vied on national television, Los
Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley led a
solemn observance at City Hall com-
memorating the 11 Israelis slain by
terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in
Munich.
"We call upon people everywhere
to recall Munich and to say at last of
that day and of all terrorist days,
`Never again' " declared Bradley.
The tavo top leaders of the Los
Angeles Olympic host committee,
Paul Ziffren and Peter Ueberroth,
joined the Israeli athletes and Jewish
dignitaries in unveiling a large bronze
plaque with the names of the 11 vic-
tims, which will be permanently
mounted at the L.A. Coliseum.
The ceremony was seen, in part, as
. a protest against the. refusal ,of. the
Friday, August 10,1944 25
.
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