Israel's Rhythmic Gymnastics Team Wins Silver Medal at Paris 2024 Olympics

Israel added yet another medal to their impressive haul at the Paris Olympics as the Rhythmic Gymnastics Team captured silver for the nation’s 7th medal with a terrific performance in the Group All-Around after having qualified for the finals.

As Joshua Halickman reported in The Jerusalem Post,

Coach Ayelet Zussman spoke about the team’s performance, “How did we do it? With the love for the sport, with the great coaching staff, and by working hard together. Linoy Ashram had a huge influence on rhythmic gymnastics and she had an incredible five years where she was constantly at the top, so we knew she was a candidate for a medal at the last Olympics. The same is true with this team, who have been at the top over the past three years and here they did it.”

“When they finished their last rotation I knew there was a very good chance that we would win a medal. I am happy, I am proud to see all the people that encouraged us and who were excited for us. When we are together, it gives us the strength to achieve everything we want to achieve,” the coach concluded.

The squad of Ofir Shaham, Diana Svertsov, Adar Friedmann, Romi Paritzki and Shani Bakanov recorded a score of 35.600 in 5 Hoops, which was good for 5th place and 33.250 in 3 Ribbons and 2 Balls for 2nd, which gave them an overall score of 68.850. This placed them just behind China, which won gold with a score of 69.800 and ahead of Italy, which scored 68.100.

The key score for the blue-and-white was in the 3 Ribbons and 2 Balls, which was a marked improvement over Friday’s qualification score of 31.900, which was able to place them ahead of Italy to take home the silver medal.

 

Six Athletes Are Representing Israel in the 2022 Winter Olympics

A small but hopeful contingent of six athletes are representing Israel in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. They will compete in figure skating and alpine skiing.

Hailey Kop, a 19-year old Modern Orthodox student from West Orange, New Jersey will be skating with Israeli figure skater Evgeny Krasnopolski in the pairs competition.

As Shaked Karabelnicoff wrote in Jewish Unpacked,

“It had always been a dream of mine to skate for Israel,” Kops said in an interview. “As a Jewish religious girl raised Modern Orthodox, I know that Israel is our home. It was always part of my plan to try to skate for Israel.”

Kops and her mother became Israeli citizens in 2013 when Hailey joined Israel’s National Juniors Figure Skating team. 

“I didn’t think twice about becoming a citizen of Israel,” she said. Just being Jewish and growing up Modern Orthodox, I always had a connection to Israel even if I do live in the U.S., so to become a citizen was really cool to me.”

Aside from the gap year, Kops spent a summer in Israel and has visited multiple times, including for three national skating championships, she said.

Here are Kops and Krasnopolski skating in a 2021 competition.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila on a Snowy Mountainside

With the 2022 Winter Olympics starting in just a few days, we found this video clip on the Internet.

We don't know the identity of the violinist or the exact location, but there is reason to believe that it's a sneak preview of a new Alpine Olympic pentathlon sport...Fiddling Hava Nagila, Tree Hugging, Snow Sliding, Marching, and Dancing...all on a snow covered mountain.

Enjoy!

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Israel's Linoy Ashram Wins Gold Medal for Rhythmic Gymnastics in Tokyo Olympics

Israeli athlete Linoy Ashram has won the gold medal for rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics.

As reported by the staff of The Times of Israel,

Rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won Israel’s third-ever Olympic gold medal on Saturday, beating out tough competition to take the top spot on the Tokyo 2020 podium and ending over two decades of Russian dominance in the sport.

Ashram is the first Israeli woman to win a gold at the Olympics.

“It’s what I dreamed of for all my life,” Ashram said after the win.

“It’s an amazing feeling to stand in this place, at this time, on the podium and in first place,” said the 22-year-old gymnast who has now been picked to carry the flag at the closing ceremony.

“It’s a crazy experience that I still haven’t fully digested and with peak levels of excitement,” Ashram said.

She was visibly moved as Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva, rang out through the gymnastics center as the flag was raised.

Enjoy!

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Israel's Baseball Team Hopes for Olympic Medals in Tokyo

Israel's i24 news is reporting that the Israel baseball team is heading to Tokyo to be one of six countries competing for medals in the sport that few Israelis follow or even know about. The Israeli team will be playing against the United States, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

Most of the more than 40 members of the team are Jewish Americans who played in the big leagues. They got their citizenship and passports and qualified to represent Israel in the games.

As Cody Williams wrote in the New York Post,

Amid a group of stalwarts in the world of baseball, Israel has been a nation on the rise in the sport in recent years. They have shot up into the top 25 of the world rankings in recent years, including making a run in the World Baseball Classic back in 2017. However, this will be the country’s first appearance ever in the Olympics.

The major factor differentiating the 2017 WBC squad from the group heading to Tokyo is that the Olympics have stricter eligibility requirements, essentially requiring all players to be naturally born Israeli citizens or to have made aliyah (Jewish return to Israel to become a citizen). For the WBC, The Law of Return allowed virtually any Jewish baseball player to join Team Israel.

The first game between Israel and the USA is scheduled for 6 am on Friday.

Play ball!

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Israel Goes to Tokyo: Israeli Marathon Champion Girmaw Amare Aims for Top Three at Olympics

The 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics are coming, and Israel plans to be there with a full team.

Much of Japan is under a state of emergency due to a third wave of COVID-19 infections, but organizers have vowed to press ahead with the Games, which are due to open on July 23 after being postponed for a year because of the pandemic.

Israel intends to have all its athletes due to compete at the Tokyo Olympics vaccinated against COVID-19 by May, its National Olympic Committee said last week, amid global debate over whether athletes should be given priority access in the rollout.

One of Israel's leading athletes, marathon champion Girmaw Amare, is ready to compete and aims to finish in the top three in his sport. He came to Israel with his parents in 2006 from a small village in Ethiopia.

Amare was interviewed last week by Israel's i24NEWS.

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Israel at the Olympics: Alexei Bychenko Wins Second Place Skating to Hava Nagila

Israeli figure skater Alexei Bychenko captured second place in the men's figure skating competition at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea this week. 

The Ukrainian-born flag bearer for the Israeli team performed his routine to an instrumental version of Hava Nagila that started with Sh'ma Yisrael.

As Jenny Singer wrote in The Forward,

As the opening strains of “Hava Nagila” rang out, a nod to his Judaism and the country he now skates for, Bychenko exuded the confidence of a bar mitzvah party motivator, the exuberance of a schnapps-drunk uncle, and the technique of a world class figure skater. With a flawless series of triple lutzes, laybacks, and a perfectly executed quad jumps, Bychenko crushed his season’s best, attaining an 88.49. He ended the night in second place, just behind Japan and far ahead of Nathan Chen, the 18 year-old American champion.

Enjoy!

Read more: https://forward.com/schmooze/394053/israeli-skaters-flawless-hava-nagila-vaults-him-to-second-place-in-mens-fig/

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