Jewish Kiwi Sailor Poised for Medal
Image by getty images
New Zealand sailor Jo Aleh is poised to win her first Olympic medal as her event heads into its final stretch.
Aleh, whose parents Shuki and Daniella Aleh lived in Israel before moving to Auckland, is in second position with her teammate Olivia Powrie after six of 10 races in the 470 event.
The Kiwis were leading the competition in the early rounds, but now trail the British team by one point. There are four more rounds remaining – two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday – followed by a medal race, scheduled for Friday.
Aleh, a former national champion and 2007 world champion, came seventh at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and hopes to win her first Olympic medal in London.
Her father has flown in from Israel to watch the final rounds and her mother has arrived from New Zealand.
She has two half-siblings who both live in Israel, according to a report in The Forward. After the Olympics, the family is traveling there to celebrate her half-sister’s bat mitzvah.
Aleh says she was inspired to take up sailing after watching the 1995 America’s Cup when New Zealand won sport’s oldest trophy.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
