US brings home 18 medals at first Maccabi Winter Games in over 85 years
Host country Germany praised as Team USA hopes to play host in 2025 or 2026
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Adam Kovac January 10, 2023
The first Maccabi Winter Games in over 85 years has come to a close and the head of the U.S. team is optimistic there won’t be such a long wait for the next edition, which could be held in the United States.
“It was better than our wildest imagination. The Germans organized a great competition,” Maccabi USA President Jeff Bukantz said. “We’re looking at holding the next Winter Games in Sun Valley, Idaho.”
Bukantz could not say when the event would take place, should plans prove successful, but that it could occur in either early 2025 or 2026.
Various offshoots of the Maccabi Games are held throughout the world on a regular basis, with the flagship Maccabiah Games being held every four years in Israel. Those events have featured a few sports usually associated with winter, most notably ice hockey. The Winter Games, which took place in the Bavarian Alps, introduced alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, snow volleyball and other sports into the itinerary.
The United States performed admirably, racking up 18 medals, including three golds and six silvers. The cross-country father-and-son team of Victor and Samuel Gurarie each brought home a gold and shared a team silver medal in the laser biathlon, which includes cross-country skiing and laser-rifle shooting.
“We’re very, very happy with the medal count,” said Bukantz, who added that while winning medals is important, the priority is to “have the participation and expose the Jewish athletes to this.”
The location gave the event added significance. The last Maccabi Winter Games were held in Czechoslovakia in 1936, just a few years before the Nazis invaded.
“I’m the son of a Holocaust survivor, so to go back to Germany and to see this is really quite touching,” said Bukantz. “It really was very meaningful.”
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the U.S. medal count.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
