The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
,
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
,
World Police and Fire Games
The World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) is a biennial athletic event, open to active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel throughout the world. The WPFG Federation is an arm of the California Police Athletic Federation (CPAF), ...
, and
Universiade
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and " Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred ...
. On the 13 July, more than 6,000 Jewish athletes from all over the world joined Team Israel's 3,000 participants at the
Ramat Gan Stadium
Ramat Gan Stadium ( he, אצטדיון רמת גן, ''Itztadion Ramat Gan'') is a football stadium in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. It served as the national stadium of Israel until 2014.
Overview
Completed in 1951 and serving ...
in
Tel Aviv District
The Tel Aviv District ( he, מָחוֹז תֵּל אָבִיב; ar, منطقة تل أبيب) is the smallest and most densely populated of the six administrative districts of Israel with a population of 1.35 million residents. It is 98.9% Jewi ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, for the opening ceremony. American swimmer
Jason Lezak
Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...
was given the honor of lighting the Maccabiah torch at the Opening Ceremony.
History
The
Maccabiah Games were first held in
1932. In 1961, they were declared a "Regional Sports Event" by, and under the auspices and supervision of, the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
.
[Mitchell G. Bard and Moshe Schwartz]
''1001 Facts Everyone Should Know about Israel''
p. 84. Among other Olympic and world champions, swimmer
Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record ti ...
won 10 Maccabiah gold medals before earning his first of nine Olympic gold medals.
The Maccabiah Games are open to
Jewish athletes from around the world, as well as to all Israeli athletes regardless of ethnicity or religion.
Arab Israelis have also competed in it.
Notable competitors
![Keren Ziebner 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Keren_Ziebner_2.jpg)
Greco-Roman former world champion wrestler
Lindsey Durlacher
Lindsey Durlacher (September 14, 1974 – June 4, 2011) was an American Greco-Roman wrestler whose career highlight was a bronze medal at the 2006 FILA Wrestling World Championships at 121 pounds. He was among the most accomplished ...
was the flagbearer for the US, and Olympic pole vaulter
Jillian Schwartz
Jillian Schwartz (born September 19, 1979) is an American-born female former pole vaulter who competed internationally for Israel. She represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics and competed at five consecutive World Championshi ...
, who later won a gold medal, was one of the US banner bearers.
American
Max Fried
Max Dorian Fried ( ; born January 18, 1994), nicknamed "Maximus", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Drafted in 2012 by the San Diego Padres in the first round, seventh overall, F ...
, who in 2017 became a major league baseball player with the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...
, won a gold medal with the Team USA Juniors baseball team.
US Olympic and world champion swimmer
Jason Lezak
Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...
won four gold medals (in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, freestyle relay, and medley relay), while setting four Maccabiah records, and was named the most outstanding male athlete of the Games.
American basketball players
Dan Grunfeld
Daniel Leslie Grunfeld ( he, דן גרונפלד; born February 7, 1984) is an American professional basketball player, who last played as a small forward for Bnei Herzliya in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played briefly for Hapoel ...
led the US Open Men's Basketball team, which included
Bryan Cohen
Bryan Cohen (born May 10, 1989) is an American-Israeli former basketball player. He played the shooting guard position. He won a gold medal with Team USA in the 2009 Maccabiah Games. He played college basketball for the Bucknell Bison, and was ...
and
Zack Rosen
Zack Rosen (born March 14, 1989) is an American basketball player. Rosen, a point guard, played collegiately at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an All-American and Ivy League player of the year.
College career
Rosen is Jewish, f ...
, to a gold medal over Israel, as college basketball coach
Bruce Pearl
Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, and the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team. He previously served as the head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. Pearl led Southe ...
coached the team, assisted by
Doug Gottlieb
Douglas Mitchell Gottlieb (born January 15, 1976) is an American basketball analyst and sports talk radio host. He played both NCAA collegiate basketball, twice leading the nation in assists, and professional basketball (including USBL; leading ...
.
American swimmer
Andrea Murez
Andrea "Andi" Murez ( he, אנדראה "אנדי" מורז; born January 29, 1992), is an Israeli-American Olympic swimmer. She swam for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She will represent Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
She represented ...
won nine medals (five gold and four silver), breaking all-time Maccabiah Games records while winning gold medals in four individual events: 50m freestyle (26.44); 100m freestyle (0:56.44); 200m freestyle (2:03:45); and 200m Individual Medley (2:20.74), and earned her 5th gold medal anchoring the USA 4 × 100m Freestyle Relay team, which set an all-time Maccabiah Games record (3:53:55).
Israeli swimmers who won gold medals were future Olympian
Amit Ivry
Amit Ivry ( he, עמית עברי; born September 2, 1989, in Eilat, Israel) is an Israeli Olympic swimmer, Maccabiah Games champion, and national record holder. She competes in the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and medley.
Ivry won a ...
in the Women's 100m butterfly (with a time of 58.50),
Keren Siebner
Keren Michaela Siebner ( he, קרן זיבנר; also Zibner, born 1990), is an Israeli Olympic swimmer, Israeli national champion, Maccabiah Games winner, and a national record holder in the 200m butterfly and 200m backstroke.
Early and pers ...
in the freestyle and the medley,
Guy Barnea
Guy Marcos Barnea (; born 9 September 1987) is an Israeli swimmer who represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and has won three medals at the European Championships. As of March 2016, he held the Israeli records in the long course 50m ...
in the Men's 100m backstroke (with a time of 54.22, setting a new
Maccabiah Games record and Israeli record),
Gal Nevo
Gal Nevo ( he, גל נבו; born 29 June 1987) is a record-holding Israeli swimmer.
Biography
Gal Nevo was born in Kibbutz Hamadia in the Beit She'an Valley. When the local swimming pool closed, Nevo would practice at Gan HaShlosha National Par ...
in the 400m medley, Olympian
Michael Halika
Michael "Mickey" Halika ( he, מיכאל "מיקי" חליקה; born November 11, 1978 in Jerusalem) is a former Israeli swimmer.
Swimming career
Despite being of Israeli nationality he won the 400 metres medley titles in ...
in the 200 m individual medley, and
Alon Mandel
Alon Mandel ( he, אלון מנדל; born 23 August 1988) is an Israeli swimmer who represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Mandel is the national record holder (2014) in 50- and 100-meter butterfly. Mandel won the 100-meter butterfly at t ...
in the 100m butterfly (setting a new Maccabiah Games record of 52.99 seconds). Israeli swimmers who won silver medals included
Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or in the 100m freestyle (49.02; behind
Jason Lezak
Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...
, and a new Israeli record) and
Vitali Pushkar in the 50m
freestyle behind Jason Lezak.
Israeli judokas
Or Sasson
Or "Ori" Sasson ( he, אור "אורי" ששון; born 18 August 1990) is a retired Israeli Olympic judoka. He won a bronze medal in the +100 kg category at the 2016 Summer Olympics and another one at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the se ...
, a future Olympic bronze medalist, and
Golan Pollack, a future world championship bronze medalist, won gold medals at −100 kg and half lightweight (under 66 kg), and
Gili Cohen
Gili Cohen ( he, גילי כהן; born June 19, 1991) is an Israeli retired Olympic judoka. In 2013, she won the silver medal at the European U23 Championships, and she was a bronze medalist at the 2014 European Judo Championships. She comp ...
won a bronze medal.
Israeli judokas
Yarden Gerbi
Yarden Gerbi (or Jerbi, he, ירדן ג'רבי; born July 8, 1989) is an Israeli former judoka world champion. She won an Olympic bronze medal competing for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in Women's 63 kg Judo.
Gerbi won the gold m ...
, a future world champion and Olympic bronze medalist, and
Gregory Rudelson
Gregory Rudelson (born March 17, 1988) is an Israeli judoka and belt wrestler.
Sports career
In the Israeli Championships in judo, Rudelson came in second in the U 100 in 2006 and 2007, second in the O100 in 2009, 2012, and 2014, and won the ch ...
won silver medals.
Brazilian judoka and future world championship silver medalist and Olympic bronze medalist
Felipe Kitadai
Felipe Kitadai (born July 28, 1989) is a judoka from Brazil. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and a gold at the 2011 Pan American Games. He also won gold medals six consecutive times in the Pan American Games Judo Championships: at ...
won a bronze medal at U60, beating
Lindsey Durlacher
Lindsey Durlacher (September 14, 1974 – June 4, 2011) was an American Greco-Roman wrestler whose career highlight was a bronze medal at the 2006 FILA Wrestling World Championships at 121 pounds. He was among the most accomplished ...
along the way.
Aaron Cohen won a bronze medal for the United States.
Israeli champion and future Olympian
Laetitia Beck
Laetitia Beck ( he, לטיסיה בק; born February 5, 1992) is an Israeli professional golfer. She made her professional debut at the 2014 Women's British Open.
Beck has won the Israeli Open Golf Championship five times, including for the firs ...
won an individual gold medal and a team gold medal in golf at the Games. Israeli fencers who won gold medals were Olympians
Tomer Or
Tomer ( he, תֹּמֶר, , Palm Tree) is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav in the West Bank. Located in the Jordan Valley next to the Palestinian village of Fasayil, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bik'at HaYarden Regional Counci ...
in men's foil, and
Ayelet Ohayon in women's team foil.
Israeli gymnast and future Olympian
Valeria Maksyuta
Valeria Vladimirovna Maksyuta (russian: Валерія Володимирівна Максюта russian: Валерия Владимировна Максюта, he, ולריה מקסיוטה) is a former artistic gymnast who represented Ukrain ...
won gold on the vault, and silver medals in the all-around and on the uneven bars. Israeli gymnast and future Olympian
Alexander Shatilov
Alexander "Alex" Shatilov ( he, אלכסנדר "אלכס" שטילוב, russian: Александр Шатилов; born March 22, 1987) is a USSR-born Israeli artistic gymnast. He specializes in the floor exercise, in which he won several medals ...
won four gold medals and two silver medals. Hungarian gymnast
Orsolya Nagy
Orsolya Nagy (, born 17 November 1977) is a Hungarian fencer who competed in the women's individual sabre
A sabre ( French: sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry ...
won a bronze medal; also a fencer, she won a bronze medal in the individual sabre event at the 2009 World Fencing Championships.
Israeli runner and future Olympian
Maor Tiyouri
Maor Tiyouri ( he, מאור טיורי; born 13 August 1990) is an Israeli Olympic long-distance runner, former national record holder of Israel in the 5000 metres, and a three-time Israeli national champion – in the 1,500 m and 5,000 m i ...
was the silver medalist in the 1500m and a bronze medalist in the 800m.
[University of San Francisco Dons Athletics – Maor Tiyouri – 2013 Women's Track and Field](_blank)
Usfdons.com. Retrieved on 26 August 2016. Russian Olympian
Igor Pavlov won the gold medal in the pole vault. Israeli Olympic pole vaulter
Alex Averbuch also competed in the Games.
In football,
Sam Sloma won a silver medal with Great Britain. Israelis
Timor Avitan,
Nir Bitton,
Tzahi Elihen,
Sari Falah,
Muayan Halaili,
Adir Maman,
Barak Moshe,
Alon Turgeman
Alon Turgeman ( he, אלון תורג'מן; born 9 June 1991) is an Israeli footballer who plays as a forward for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and the Israel national football team.
Early life
Turgeman was born in Hadera, Israel, to a family of Jew ...
,
Arik Yanko,
Osher Zeitun, and
Hana Nasser won a bronze medal in football.
Zac MacMath
Zachary Michael MacMath (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper in Major League Soccer for Real Salt Lake. MacMath was drafted No. 5 overall in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft by the Philadelphia Union.
...
and
Kyle Altman
Kyle Marten Altman (born January 31, 1986) is an American former soccer player, who last played for Minnesota United FC in the North American Soccer League. He was the 2003 New Mexico High School Coaches Association's Class 4A boys' soccer pla ...
competed for Team USA in football.
Alon Badat
Alon Badat (born December 3, 1989) is an Israeli footballer who plays with FC Ukraine United in the Canadian Soccer League. He played college soccer for York University, with whom he was a U Sports Championship All Star, the Ontario Univers ...
,
Gil Vainshtein, and
Felix Gelt competed for Canada.
["2009 Team Canada Delegation"](_blank)
/ref> Steven Solomon
Steven Solomon (born 16 May 1993) is an Australian Olympic sprinter. He is a six-time defending Australian 400 metres champion.
In 2011, he broke the 30-year-old national junior record in the 400m. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London at t ...
competed for Australia as captain of its junior soccer team. Barry Silkman
Barry Silkman (born 29 June 1952) is a football agent and former player, who played in midfield for 11 clubs including at Manchester City in 1979 and at Leyton Orient from 1981 to 1985. He competed for 16 years. In total, he made 340 professio ...
played football for the gold-medal winning 45-plus Team GB.
Bensiyon Songavkar played for Team India and won a silver medal in cricket. Jason Molins, Mark Bott
Mark Daniel Bott is an English first-class cricketer. He was born in Nottingham, England and is Jewish.
Playing career
His batting style is right-hand bat. Among other teams, he has played for Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excell ...
, and Darren Gerard
Darren Charles Gerard (born 17 April 1984) is a cricketer who represented Oxford University Cricket Club, Oxford University in matches against Cambridge University Cricket Club, Cambridge University in 2004 and 2006.
Early and personal li ...
played for the UK in cricket.
Chess grandmaster Judit Polgár
Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the yo ...
from Hungary, the number 1 rated woman in the world, was named the Maccabiah's most outstanding female athlete of the Games. Russian chess grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...
, later ranked fourth in the world, won a gold medal, and Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand ( he, בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד; be, Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд, Barys Abramavich Hel'fand; russian: Борис Абрамович Гельфанд, Boris Abramovich Gel'fand; born 24 June 1968) ...
and Slovenian grandmaster Alexander Beliavsky
Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, ua, Олександр Генріхович Бєлявський, sl, Aleksander Henrikovič Beljavski; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess pl ...
competed in the tournament. Russian grandmaster Evgeny Najer won the rapid tournament in Netanya, ahead of Nepomniachtchi, Beliavsky, Gelfand, Judit Polgar, and Ukrainian grandmaster Pavel Eljanov
Pavel Eljanov ( uk, Павло Володимирович Ельянов, translit=Pavlo Volodymyrovych Elyanov; born 10 May 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He has won two team gold medals and one individual silver medal at the Chess Oly ...
. German grandmaster Daniel Fridman
Daniel Fridman ( lv, Daniels Fridmans; born February 15, 1976) is a Latvian-German chess player. Awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001, he was Latvian champion in 1996 and German champion in 2008, 2012 and 2014.
Early chess caree ...
also competed in chess.
American Brian L. Roberts
Brian L. Roberts (born June 28, 1959) is an American billionaire businessman, and the chairman and CEO of Comcast, an American company providing cable, entertainment, and communications products and services which was founded by his father, Ralph ...
won a silver medal in squash. Zach Test and Shawn Lipman played for the US Maccabiah rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
team, winning a bronze medal.
Ukrainian future world championship silver medalist Vasyl Fedoryshyn competed in wrestling. Canadian Olympic wrestler David Zilberman competed as well.
Canadian volleyball player and future Olympian Josh Binstock
Josh Binstock (born January 12, 1981), nicknamed Binner, is a male two-time Olympian beach volleyball player from Canada. He competed in the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. He also competed for Canada in volleybal ...
competed for Canada.
Participating communities
*Reference.
* (330)
* (800)
*
*
*
* (390)
* (400)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (30)
*
* (2,500)
*
*
*
*
*
* (1)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (1)
*
*
* (13)
*
*
*
* (1)
*
* (65)
*
*
*
*
* (650)
* (1,500)
*
*
*
Medal count
220px, Medals in the 18th Maccabiah, front
220px, Medals in the 18th Maccabiah, back
Sports
The following are the 31 sports which were contested at these Games.["Maccabiah Sports"](_blank)
The list of Maccabiah Sports is provided at www.maccabiah.com. The link for each sport provides further links the disciplines of the sport, if applicable.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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*
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*
References
External links
;Official
The 18th Maccabiah Photo Gallery at Picasa.com
;Unofficial
{{Maccabiah Games
Maccabiah Games
Macca
Maccabiah Games
2000s in Tel Aviv