{"id":45044,"date":"2016-08-02T15:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=45044"},"modified":"2016-08-02T16:01:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T14:01:12","slug":"04-00-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=45044","title":{"rendered":"2016 Olympics: Israel\u2019s largest-ever delegation is ready for Rio"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>2016 Olympics: Israel\u2019s largest-ever delegation is ready for Rio<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Marcus Moraes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>The Israeli delegation of Olympic athletes meeting with President Rivlin, front row, second from right, before departing to for the Rio Olympics. (Mark Neiman\/GPO)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) \u2013 When the 2016 Olympic Games open here on Friday evening, Israel will proudly show off its largest delegation ever, with 47 athletes competing in 17 sports.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among them are golfer Laetitia Beck, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor; Lonah Chemtai, a Kenyan-born marathoner, and Ron Darmon, the first triathlete to represent Israel at the Olympic Games.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israelis and Jews around the world are expected to show their support for the team, which failed to medal in 2012 when the Israeli delegation numbered 37. Some 10,000 Israeli tourists are expected to attend the Games \u2014 they will join Rio\u2019s nearly 40,000-strong Jewish community, along with other Jewish supporters from across Brazil and around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a small team compared to other countries, but we have quality and are determined,\u201d Israeli Olympic Committee President Igal Carmi told the delegation during a meeting in Jerusalem at Israeli President Reuven Rivlin\u2019s residence on July 13 before departing to Brazil. \u201cI am very proud of the Israeli team. We are ready to compete at the highest levels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Israel\u2019s top Olympic hopes, rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin, will hold the Israeli flag at the opening ceremony.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was told, I felt I was fulfilling another personal dream,\u201d she said at the meeting. \u201cOn behalf of all the athletes, I can promise that we will all do our very best. We all want to bring moments of joy to the Israeli people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of Israel\u2019s competitors arrived in Brazil early to acclimatize to the Brazilian climate and setting. Preferring to avoid the Rio fuss, many made their temporary homes in Sao Paulo, the country\u2019s largest city and its financial capital \u2014 not to be confused with its actual capital city, Brasilia \u2014 and home to its largest Jewish population.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although 250 miles away from the Olympic Village in Rio, Sao Paulo\u2019s Hebraica \u2014 a massive complex that\u2019s somewhat akin to a Jewish community center \u2014 was chosen as a pre-games training camp for the Israeli and Japanese swimming, water polo, basketball, gymnastics, handball, judo, shooting, tennis and volleyball teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHalf of the Israeli delegation will train at Hebraica,\u201d said Avi Gelberg, the sports club\u2019s president. \u201cWe are very proud as Jews to be able to be close to the Israeli athletes, help their preparation and \u2013 why not? \u2013 contribute to their achievements.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from leading the world\u2019s largest Jewish sports club, Gelberg, who was born in Haifa, also presides over the Maccabi organization in Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWelcoming the Olympic Games is a big pride,\u201d he said. \u201cDespite political issues, corruption, Zika, pollution and so on, I am sure Brazil will make excellent Games the same way we did with the World Soccer Cup here in 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael will be able to present itself in a positive way much beyond the conflicts,\u201d added Gelberg, who will also serve as the Israeli delegation\u2019s attach\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s delegation also includes 34 coaches and about 25 support staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 16 Olympic Games, Israel has won seven medals \u2014 in judo, sailing and canoeing. The only gold medalist was windsurfer Gal Fridman (Athens, 2004), who also won a bronze medal in Atlanta in 1996.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not even the recent news about Islamist terrorists \u2014 who have issued directives to \u201clone wolves\u201d to carry out attacks against the Israeli delegation \u2014 nor the imprisonment of 12 people in Brazil who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group via social media seem to be a concern for some Israeli delegation members.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Israeli<\/p>\n

Israeli gymast Neta Rivkin, competing here in the women’s rhythmic gymnastics all-around individual final at the Baku 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19, 2015, is one of Israel’s (Photo by David Ramos\/Getty Images for BEGOC)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no issues about security or whatsoever. Not at all. We feel very safe. But we obviously cannot speak too much about it,\u201d Danny Oren, sport director of the Israeli delegation, told JTA.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oren and the entire delegation \u2014 and, well, pretty much everyone \u2014 are looking forward to the opening ceremony on Friday night. However, they won\u2019t be joined by Israel\u2019s most senior official expected to attend the Games. Miri Regev, Israel\u2019s minister of culture and sport, who is not observant, caught everyone by surprise when she announced on July 24 she won\u2019t violate Shabbat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShabbat, our national day of rest, is one of the most important gifts that Jewish people have given to the culture of humanity,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cAs the representative of the State of Israel, the sole Jewish state on the planet, I unfortunately cannot take part in the opening ceremony of the Olympics because it would require me to break the holy Sabbath.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear if she will be the only one to miss the event \u2014 but Oren insists that, if it happens, it\u2019s purely out of a competitive, not religious, spirit. \u201cIf this or that athlete decides not to attend, it will be for the fact it finishes very late and they will have a competition early in the morning on Saturday,\u201d Oren said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regev\u2019s presence is confirmed, however, for one of the most highly anticipated moments for Israelis in Rio: A ceremony to honor the 11 Israelis killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics will be held at Rio\u2019s City Hall on Aug. 14. It will be co-led by the International Olympic Committee along with the Olympic committees of Israel and Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mayor will open the doors of his house in a gesture of great friendship with the Brazilian Jewish community and the whole people of Israel,\u201d Israel\u2019s honorary consul in Rio, Osias Wurman, told JTA.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the team\u2019s sendoff at the president\u2019s house in Jerusalem, Regev spoke about countries, which she chose not to name, that do not recognize Israel and do not permit their athletes to compete against Israelis,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, there are countries, even today, that exploit the Olympic Games for political gain and discriminate against Israeli athletes,\u201d Regev lamented. \u201cThis represents the new anti-Semitism and we need to fight it. When you are at the fields and halls of the [Olympic] events, remember that an entire country back at home is praying for your success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Added Rivlin: \u201cYour preparation has been superb, and now is the time to reap the fruit of your efforts. We believe in you and know that you can and will return home with Olympic medals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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2016 Olympics: Israel\u2019s largest-ever delegation is ready for Rio Marcus Moraes The Israeli delegation of Olympic athletes meeting with President Rivlin, front row, second from right, before departing to for the Rio Olympics. (Mark Neiman\/GPO) RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) \u2013 When the 2016 Olympic Games open here on Friday evening, Israel will proudly show off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45044"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45044"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45073,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45044\/revisions\/45073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}