Israel Ends Olympics With Goose Egg
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The Israeli Olympics team did not meet a single one of the goals set by the country’s Olympic Committee. That means Israel’s Olympic delegation to London was clearly a failure.
The defeat of some of Israel’s top athletes, like windsurfer Lee Korzits, judoka Arik Ze’evi and gymnast Alex Shatilov is a symptom of the state of Israeli sports.
True, there were some highlights in gymnastics and swimming. Israel had four qualifiers for the gymnastics finals and a sixth-place finish for Shatilov with a seventh place for rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin. In swimming, Yakov Toumarkin took seventh in the 200-meter backstroke finals, becoming the highest-finishing Israeli swimmer in Olympic history, while Gal Nevo ended fourth in the semifinal of the men’s 200-meter individual medley.
That’s nice and all, but it’s just a few points of light in the darkness, sparks of achievement that are dwarfed by Israel’s overarching losses.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
