Wow. You don't even know how happy this list made me. (I'm going to show it to my mom when she gets home from work! I know she'll love it.) It's so wonderful to see so many Jews breaking down the stereotypes of being brainy and non-athletic. I don't know if it's an American-specific stereotype, but I've also heard the one my whole life that Jews are not swimmers (which usually leads to a prejudiced comment about the desert, which usually leads to me leaving that conversation). Despite the obvious answer of Mark Spitz, it's so, so nice to see so many participating in Olympic swimming, and winning Olympic medals when I've been told my whole life Jews don't even like to get into the water.
Thank you also! Because my family and I have been wondering if synchronized swimming was even still in the games as NBC didn't show a damn minute of it. So it's good to know that it's still around :D
How did Israel do in the medal count this year? And he's not on your list, but I remember (it had to be in 1996) an Israeli male gymnast - I think he was just competing on the still rings - and I think he medaled but I really can't recall, I just remember him doing so well and his coach coming up to hug him after the performance...did he medal in that year? (Okay that was a really vague question "hey did this guy I think it was 12 years ago I don't know his name and it might have been this event and maybe he medaled maybe not?" :P)
As a parting note, I'm really surprised with the American commentary that they focused on some really dumb things about the lineages of some athletes. Do the Chinese people (or anyone, for that matter) really care that Melissa Wu's grandparents are Chinese? She's Australian, I'm pretty sure she considers herself Australian and isn't spending half the amount of time thinking how interesting it is she's competing in Beijing as the NBC commentators did.
For that alone it was worth making this post. And I hope your mom enjoys it too! *hugs to both of you*
I hate that stereotype so much! And of course Mark Spitz is the obvious answer, but the truth is that there are TONS of talented Jewish athletes out there, some of them beyond remarkable. This isn't even a comprehensive list because I only focused on Olympic medalists, but there are plenty out there who had great achievements without once getting to the Olympics. After all, Israel still sends every year the largest number of Jews in one team, even though it reportedly has some of the toughest criteria out there. That tells me that it's probably still harder for Jewish athletes to break the stereotypes and be accepted in countries other than the US.
Don't even like getting into water? Pffff, between Mark Spitz, Esther Williams and Johnny Weissmuller alone, we practically inevented getting into water!
Synchronized swimming definitely still is. And it's lovely to see. The Russian team won and they were wonderful, but I was very proud of the Israeli team as well, because it was the first time they competed and they did very well, especially for first timers. :D
How did we do? Not as well as we had hoped on some fronts, but very nicely on others. Judo is usually considered the Israeli sport at the Olympics, and this year one of our guys (another first timer) came in 5th in the world. Very impressive, but a veteran fighter which we hoped would get a medal, didn't. He's been an Olympian since 1996, if I'm nto mistaken, and this was his last round. We really wanted this medal for him. One of our guys got a medal in windsurfing and another came in 4th, we had gymnasts in both artistic and rhytmic gymnastics making the finals (both individuals and teams) and those are firsts and all new comers, our swimming team broke 11 Israeli records in the Olympic pool and 5 of them are between the top 20 swimmers in the world (you can shove that in anyone's face, you have my permission to do so) and these are all guys who are being cultivated not for this Olympics but for London come 2012, so I'm really optimistic about what they can achieve then. Two of them even got to swim alongside Michael Phelps, which made everyone here very happy. And one of them swam after his father died a week before the Olympics started because he said that's what his dad dreamt of (he broke 2 Israeli records). I don't know, I'm just really proud of them even though they don't have a medal. Does that make sense? But to tell you the truth, I am worried about the behind the scenes - - Israel is facing budget problems and it's not clear what kind of funding these young athletes will have in the next four years. I'm hoping for the best, though.
Oh, you're going to hate me forever, but I don't remember! :o I know there was a wonderful Israeli gymnast, but I only heard about him today, and I can't remember his name. *sucks*
Commentators all over the world suck. Here, they broadcast the swimming races like they were soccer games. I can't even begin to explain the agony. I know it's because they're ex Olympic swimmers, but honest! That's no reason to give them a mic if they don't know how to use it. :/
Thank you also! Because my family and I have been wondering if synchronized swimming was even still in the games as NBC didn't show a damn minute of it. So it's good to know that it's still around :D
How did Israel do in the medal count this year? And he's not on your list, but I remember (it had to be in 1996) an Israeli male gymnast - I think he was just competing on the still rings - and I think he medaled but I really can't recall, I just remember him doing so well and his coach coming up to hug him after the performance...did he medal in that year? (Okay that was a really vague question "hey did this guy I think it was 12 years ago I don't know his name and it might have been this event and maybe he medaled maybe not?" :P)
As a parting note, I'm really surprised with the American commentary that they focused on some really dumb things about the lineages of some athletes. Do the Chinese people (or anyone, for that matter) really care that Melissa Wu's grandparents are Chinese? She's Australian, I'm pretty sure she considers herself Australian and isn't spending half the amount of time thinking how interesting it is she's competing in Beijing as the NBC commentators did.
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I hate that stereotype so much! And of course Mark Spitz is the obvious answer, but the truth is that there are TONS of talented Jewish athletes out there, some of them beyond remarkable. This isn't even a comprehensive list because I only focused on Olympic medalists, but there are plenty out there who had great achievements without once getting to the Olympics. After all, Israel still sends every year the largest number of Jews in one team, even though it reportedly has some of the toughest criteria out there. That tells me that it's probably still harder for Jewish athletes to break the stereotypes and be accepted in countries other than the US.
Don't even like getting into water? Pffff, between Mark Spitz, Esther Williams and Johnny Weissmuller alone, we practically inevented getting into water!
Synchronized swimming definitely still is. And it's lovely to see. The Russian team won and they were wonderful, but I was very proud of the Israeli team as well, because it was the first time they competed and they did very well, especially for first timers. :D
How did we do? Not as well as we had hoped on some fronts, but very nicely on others. Judo is usually considered the Israeli sport at the Olympics, and this year one of our guys (another first timer) came in 5th in the world. Very impressive, but a veteran fighter which we hoped would get a medal, didn't. He's been an Olympian since 1996, if I'm nto mistaken, and this was his last round. We really wanted this medal for him. One of our guys got a medal in windsurfing and another came in 4th, we had gymnasts in both artistic and rhytmic gymnastics making the finals (both individuals and teams) and those are firsts and all new comers, our swimming team broke 11 Israeli records in the Olympic pool and 5 of them are between the top 20 swimmers in the world (you can shove that in anyone's face, you have my permission to do so) and these are all guys who are being cultivated not for this Olympics but for London come 2012, so I'm really optimistic about what they can achieve then. Two of them even got to swim alongside Michael Phelps, which made everyone here very happy. And one of them swam after his father died a week before the Olympics started because he said that's what his dad dreamt of (he broke 2 Israeli records). I don't know, I'm just really proud of them even though they don't have a medal. Does that make sense? But to tell you the truth, I am worried about the behind the scenes - - Israel is facing budget problems and it's not clear what kind of funding these young athletes will have in the next four years. I'm hoping for the best, though.
Oh, you're going to hate me forever, but I don't remember! :o I know there was a wonderful Israeli gymnast, but I only heard about him today, and I can't remember his name. *sucks*
Commentators all over the world suck. Here, they broadcast the swimming races like they were soccer games. I can't even begin to explain the agony. I know it's because they're ex Olympic swimmers, but honest! That's no reason to give them a mic if they don't know how to use it. :/
*huggles* <3
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