Olympic dream alive in London

AMERICAN gymnast Aly Raisman is the first Jewish Olympian to win a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, after leading the squad to top spot in the women’s artistic gymnastics team final.

The American team finished above Russia and Romania to win the event, with Raisman scoring 14.933 on the beam and 15.300 on the floor.

“It’s an amazing feeling to win gold,” Raisman told the Jewish Chronicle after the event.

“The best feeling in the world, and it shows that all the hard work has paid off.”

She became the second Jewish athlete to win a medal at the Games after compatriot Jason Lezak won silver in the 4x100m freestyle event.

Raisman, who is only 18 years old, also produced a total score of 60.391 to finish second in the qualifying for the individual all-around event, including a competition-best 15.325 on the floor, performing to the song Hava Nagila. She will compete in the final on Friday morning (Eastern Standard Time).

Israeli Valeria Maksyuta produced poor efforts in the same event, placing 31st overall in qualification, while Alex Shatilov qualified in 12th spot in the men’s individual all-around event and will compete for a medal overnight. Another Israeli Felix Aronovich failed to make the top 25.

Sailor Shahar Zubari is on track to become the first Israeli medal winner at the Games, placing 10th after the first two races of the men’s RS-X, while Lee Korzits also got off to a flyer in her first two races in the women’s RS-X, currently sitting in second position, after winning the opening race.

Nufar Edelman is sitting in 33rd spot after the first four races of the women’s Laser Radials, with plenty of work to do if she is to challenge for a medal.

Shahar Peer bowed out in the first round of the tennis event, losing 6-2, 6-0 to world number three Maria Sharapova.

Men’s doubles partners Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich beat Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 7-6, 7-6 in the first round, but were going up against world number one Roger Federer and his Swiss partner Stanislas Wawrinka as The AJN went to print.

Badminton player Misha Zilberman was eliminated in the group stage, after consecutive losses to Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen and Singapore’s Derek Wong.

Judoka Golan Pollack was beaten by Frenchman David Larose in the round of 64 in the 66kg event, while Iosef Palelashvili and Artyom Arshansky were sent packing in the second rounds of the 73kg and 60kg categories respectively.

Alice Schlesinger beat Austrian Hilde Drexler in the round of 16 in the 63kg event, but fell short in the quarterfinals, losing to Slovenia’s Urska Zolnir. Gold medal hope Ariel Ze’evi is set to take on German Dimitri Peters in the first round of the men’s 100kg division on Thursday night (Eastern Standard Time).

Swimmer Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or finished second in his 200m freestyle heat, but failed to make the semifinal, while Imri Ganiel could only manage sixth spot in the heats of the 100m breaststroke.

Gal Nevo won his race in the first round of 200m butterfly, but couldn’t progress, and also missed out in the 200m and 400m individual medleys.

Yakov Toumarkin finished sixth in his heat of the 100m backstroke, but made it through to the final of the 200m backstroke where he will race from lane eight. Amit Ivri just missed out on a spot in the women’s 200m individual medley final and placed seventh in her heat of the 100m butterfly.

Synchronised swimming duo Anastasia Gloushkov and Inna Yoffe will begin their campaign over the weekend, while track and field athletes Donald Sanford, Jillian Schwartz and Zohar Zemiro won’t compete until the end of next week. Neta Rivkin and the rhythmic gymnastics team will have to wait until the last four days of competition before they get a taste of Olympic action.

Australian sprinter Steven Solomon will compete in the 4x400m relay next Thursday, and if selected, he will also compete in heats of the individual 400m event this Saturday.

AJN Staff

Sport

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