Israellycool

I just watched The Daily Show, on which John Stewart noted that at the Winter Olympics opening cermony, the Danish team entered the stadium to the song, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.”

Yet more disgrace has befallen the Athens Games, which will probably be remembered more for the lack of sportsmanship than anything else.

A former Irish priest pushed Brazil’s Vanderlei de Lima off the road when he was leading the Olympic marathon on Sunday.

The man was arrested and taken to a police station. A government

spokesman said he was a former Irish priest, Cornelius Horan, who

interrupted the British Formula One Grand Prix last year by running on

to the Silverstone track

“The man says he is Irish, he is also drunk. He had been to a taverna earlier,” a police source told Reuters.

On Sunday Horan was wearing a kilt and beret and on a white shirt he had pinned the words “The Grand Prix Priest. Israel Fulfillment of Prophecy Says The Bible. The Second Coming is Near.” He had a Star of David attached to his kilt.

And here I was thinking that we had already had our fill of bad publicity for the day.

Watching the gold

medal ceremony for Gal Fridman was a truly surreal experience.

As the Israeli flag was raised and the national anthem, the

Hatikva,

played, all of the Israelis in the crowd sang the words. And it did

not

matter that they sang completely out of pace with the music - this was

Gal’s - and Israel’s - moment.

As I watched Gal standing on the podium, I had

two principal thoughts:

1. I am so proud of him, and of Israel!

2. Boy, doesn’t he look like a cross between

a young Ray

Romano and Jerry

Seinfeld! 

And speaking of pride, what other emotion can convey how I

feel about Gal for this:

After crossing the finish line,

Fridman pumped his fist, took

a

victory dip and then wrapped himself in an Israeli flag when he

emerged

from the water. Later, he promised to take

his

gold medal to the memorial in Tel Aviv for the 11 Israeli athletes and

coaches killed after being seized by a Palestinian terrorist group at

the 1972 Munich Games.

(Photo courtesy of Reuters)

“The feeling is amazing. You can’t describe it. I am happy you all got to see the race live on television. I simply felt the entire country pushing me forward. It’s a dream come true. I wasn’t intimated by the pressure, I was in total focus and that’s the only way to win. Thank you all for your support”.

 

“There were moments I was worried but the good guys always win..The feeling is great. It’s a dream. I was focused all the time and I wasn’t scared of the pressure. This is definitely the best way to win. At the start of the race, I was feeling a bit drained, but I suddenly felt a surge of energy, and I’m sure it was the energies of all those who are waiting for me back home”

“It’s a fantastic feeling, and we are thrilled. It was an extremely tight competition. We proved that an Israeli could be the best in the world, the winner of Olympic gold.”

“It’s very, very hard to believe that he succeeded in doing this..I’ve been sleeping a lot less lately, but it’s all part of the game. Gal wrote to me that he slept better than we did.”

“Everyone knows he’s the best in the world and he would have been the best even if he’d come in last.”

“Gal Fridman is our greatest athlete. To see our flag and hear our national anthem played at the awards ceremony is a moment we have long been waiting for.”

“I’m happy together with everyone about this win..We all had great expectations that Gal would do this.”

 

“We are all excited, all the people of Israel. I think also all of the Jewish people,”

 

1. The refusal of Iranian judo champion Arash Miresmaili to fight his Israeli opponent, and the International Judo Federation’s subsequent decision exonerating Iran of any wrongdoing.

The International Judo Federation accepted the disqualification of Arash Miresmaeili came because a medical condition left him too heavy to fight.

—-

The 23-year-old double world champion, who carried his country’s flag at the Games’ opening ceremony, weighed more than five kilograms over the 66 kg limit for the bout against Israeli Ehud Vaks. After the draw, he was quoted by the Iranian news agency as saying that he had refused to face his Israeli rival in sympathy with the “oppressed Palestinian people”.

2. The capitulation of Australian rower Sally Robbins in the 2000m rowing final, followed by threats and criticism by her teammates.

Hamm won the gold Wednesday after judges incorrectly scored Yang’s parallel bars routine, failing to give him enough points for the level of difficulty. Yang ended up with the bronze while Hamm became the first American man to win the event.

 

The federation, known as FIG, admitted the judges made a mistake, but said it couldn’t change the results. But that wasn’t good enough for the South Koreans, who want a gold medal for Yang.

—-

Under FIG rules, protests have to be filed immediately, and the South Koreans waited until after the meet to lodge their complaint. FIG rules also prevent scores from being changed once the meet is over.

 

“If the athlete does not agree to give up his medal, I don’t know what we can do,” IOC member Alex Gilady said.

 

Grandi seemed to indicate that’s what he would like.

 

“For me, the best situation would be for Paul Hamm to take this medal and give …” Grandi said, pretending to remove a medal from around his neck and leaving the sentence unfinished.

 

But Hamm said he has no plans to give up the medal unless someone asks him.

 

“I truly believe in my heart that I am the Olympic all-around champion,” Hamm said. “I did my job, and I competed with pride and integrity.”

South Korea’s Yoo Yong Sung (L) and Lee Dong Soo celebrate their men’s doubles badminton semi-final victory over Danish opponents Jens Eriksen and H. Martin Lundgaard at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 19, 2004. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Yoo Yong? He should be renamed How High. And if he gets sick of badminton, I am sure he could qualify for the high jump.