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Instead she teaches a new generation at a school in Ra'anana, near Tel Aviv and does not dwell on Munich. But she does not forget. And neither do her old teammates. This month they will gather at the Wingate Institute to honor the memory of the dead athletes, while Shlomit Nir, Esther's one-time roommate, will make the journey back to Munich to represent the Israel Olympic Committee at a special memorial ceremony. The Munich massacre still reverberates in Israel's bruised national memory. The loss of so many of the country's top athletes and coaches was also a brutal blow to the nascent sporting life of a young country. But, ironically, Munich was also a turning point: the determination to carry on — and to improve — not only won the admiration of the Israeli public but also catalyzed the small community of sports- men and sportswomen in Israel. Israel's Olympic Committee devised an intensive training and development pro- gram to systematically select and groom young athletes who display outstanding natural talent. The program is directed by one of Israel's leading sports administrators, Uri Afek, a former Israel soccer star who received his masters degree in physical education from California State Universi- ty. Thomas Lampart, a German Jew and former coach of the West German national track team, was brought in to provide ad- vanced guidelines for selection and train- ing procedures. Israel sent 40 athletes to the 1984 Los Angeles Games and expects to send some 35 to the Seoul Olympics next year. It still has not won an Olympic medal and has slender hopes of bringing one home from Seoul. "We have a few athletes who might make it into the first 15 places in their events," Israel Olympic Committee Presi- dent Yitzhak Ofek told The Jewish News "but that will be the best we can hope for." The fact remains, however, that Israel today is far more sports-conscious than it was before Munich. "There has been an ex- plosion of public interest in sports since then," says sports writer Philip Gillon, of The Jerusalem Post. "Before that, Israel was largely going through the motions. There was no real sports culture in Israeli society. "Today, Israeli attitudes to sports are very close to those of Americans and Europeans. One example of this is the massive coverage given to sports by teleVi- sion and by the major Hebrew-language newspapers." Lagging behind, however, is the kind of financial backing and infrastructure that would help young Israeli athletes reach top international standards. Uri Afek reckons that most nations spend about $2 million per Olympic medal. The entire budget for Israel's Olympic pro- gram is $1 million a year. Says Philip Gillon: "Apart from profes- sional soccer, tennis and basketball, Israeli sportsmen are genuine amateurs. And in the incredibly competitive and professional world of international sports, we can't hope to produce medal-winners with such a hit- and-miss dilettante approach." Esther Roth takes a philosophical at- titude: "Israelis," she shrugs, "are in- terested in sports, but not that interested. We have other problems to worry about." For Yitzhak Ofek, the important thing is that Israel continues to "show the flag" in international competition. "We do it to show we are here, to show that we are part of the Olympic family, to show our enemies that we have triumphed. And we do it to remember Munich. The Olympics are Israel's memorial to our dead athletes." ❑