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Sports in Israel—
something for everyone
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by Dr. Uriel Slmri
Since its very first days, the State
of Israel has looked upon sports as
an outstanding means for
international relations and
understanding. The State was only
four months old, in the midst of the
War of Independence, when the
national soccer team of Israel went
to the U.S. for a series of games. In
fact, Israel had attempted to send
two women athletes to the
Olympic Games even earlier in
London, but their participation
was prevented by a formality—
Palestine had ceased to exist and
the Olympic Committee of Israel
had not yet been recognized.
Israel's entry into the Olympic
arena took place at Helsinki in
1952 and since then Israel has
participated regularly in the
Olympic Games, despite the
murderous attack on its athletes
and coaches during the Munich
games in 1972, which cost the lives
of eleven Israelis and almost
destroyed the entire Olympic
Games.
On the home front, the two big
sport organizations of the
country—Hapoel and Maccabi
decided to cooperate, after having
been “going their own ways” for
about 25 years. Thus at the
beginning of the 1950s, national
sport federations representing all
the organizations in the country
came into being.
With the establishment of the
State of Israel, the Maccabi World
Union decided to renew the
Maccabiah Games which had been
held twice in the 1930s. The Third
Maccabiah took place in 1950.
Three years later the games were
organized for the fourth time and
since then they have been held
regularly in the year following the
Olympic Games. They have gained
the status of Regional Games and
thus rank only below the Olympic
Games in importance.
Parallel to the Maccabiah
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Games, Hapoel also renewed its
own games in I95I, giving them an
international flavor. Thus, while
the Maccabiah Games became an
international gathering of Jewish
athletes (3,000 athletes
participated in 1977!) the Hapoel
Games, which are also held every
four years, became the most
important meeting of elite athletes
from all over the world to be held
in Israel.
Israel was among the initiators
‘...one can find...
practically every sport,
from cricket and
rugby...to the Russian
Sambo style wrestling. ’
of the Asian Games, started in
Manila in 1954, and has been a
regular participant with the
exception of the 1962 games in
Indonesia, to which Israel was
not invited for political reasons.
While soccer had always been
Israel’s most popular sport,
basketball established itself as the
number one sport of Israel in the
1950s and has held this position
ever since. In 1953 Israel surprised
the sports world by gaining fifth
place in the European Champion
ships in Moscow and a year later it
was placed eighth in the World
Championships in Rio de Janeiro.
Israel's basketball gained its peak
when the Maccabi-Tel Aviv team
won the European Champions
Cup in 1977. American-born
Mickey Berkowitz and Tal Brody
are two of Israel's basketball
superstars.
Throughout its thirty years of
existence, the State of Israel has
been host to important
international sports events, such as
the Asian Nations’ Cup in soccer
(1964), the World Games of
Paraplegics (1968), the world
championship yachting for the 420
class (1970), the final of the
European Champions’ Cup in
basketball (1972) and the
European championship for youth
in judo (1974). Israel’s first world
yachting championship was won in
1969 by Zefania Carmel and Lidia
Lazarov, who started a series of
significant Israeli successes in the
(non-Olympic) 420 class of boats.
Six Israeli women have gained
gold medals through the years in
the Asian Games, led by Esther
Schachamorov-Roth, who won
five such medals in 1970 and 1974.
Esther also reached the finals of
the 100 meter hurdles in the
Montreal Olympics and
represented Asia, together with
Pazit Fabian, in the first World
Cup in track and field in 1977.
Competitive sports are only one
aspect of the Israel sports scene.
Every year some 150,000 persons
participate in non-competitive
mass activities that draw a cross-
section of the population both as
participants and as spectators.
These include the swim across the
Sea of Galilee, the cross-country
race around Mount Tabor and the
annual Jerusalem March. The
latter is organized by the Israel
Defense Forces, but is for both
soldiers and civilians, many of
whom come from abroad
esjSecially to take part in this event,
which has taken on the character
of a national holiday.
One of the specific features of
Israel’s sports is its richness in
variety on both a competitive and
non-competitive basis. This
variety is due to the fact that the
immigrants brought their sports
with them to Israel and continue to
practice them here. Thus one can
find in Israel practically every
sport, from games of cricket and
rugby, imported from the British
Commonwealth, to the Soviet
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Page 21 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE April 28, 1978