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 ...

has participated at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, which occurred from February 12–28, 2010. This was the fifth time Israel took part in the Winter Olympics. The Israeli delegation consisted of alpine skier Mykhaylo Renzhyn and ice dancing duo

Alexandra Zaretsky Alexandra "Sasha" Zaretsky ( he, אלכסנדרה זרצקי, russian: Александра Зарецкая, , be, Аляксандра Зарэцкая) (born December 23, 1987) is an Israeli retired ice dancer. With her brother Roman Zaretsky ...

and

Roman Zaretsky Roman Zaretsky ( he, רומן זרצקי, russian: Роман Зарецкий, be, Раман Зарэцкі; born December 4, 1983) is an Israeli retired ice dancer. With his sister, Alexandra Zaretsky, he is the 2009 Skate America bronze medal ...

Tamar Katz Tamar Katz ( he, תמר כץ, born September 26, 1989 ) is an Israeli-American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2005, 2007, and 2008 Israeli national champion. Personal life Tamar Katz was born September 26, 1989 in Dallas, Texas. Th ...

qualified, but the Israeli National Olympic Committee (NOC) did not permit her to compete. They did not bring home a medal during these Olympics. Israel Vancouver 2010

Background

Israel participated in every Winter Olympics since the

1994 Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fr ...

in Norway. The country has never won a Winter Olympics medal. Three athletes represented Israel in the 2010 Olympics: two in figure skating and one in alpine skiing. Mykhaylo Renzhyn was Israel's first-ever Olympic alpine skiing competitor during the 2006 Winter Games. Brother and sister ice skating duo

and

also competed for Israel at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Alexandra Zaretsky was the flag bearer for the opening ceremonies and Mykhaylo Renzhyn had the honor for the closing ceremonies.

Alpine skiing

Mykhaylo Renzhyn was the lone Israeli alpiner skier. He competed in the men's giant slalom and men's slalom events. He trains in the United States. Renzhyn competed in the men's giant slalom event on February 23, originally scheduled for the 21st. He finished in 55th place, out of 81 competitors that posted a time. He finished the first run in 1:25.77 and the second in 1:28.04, for a total of 2:53.81. He was 15.98 seconds behind the leader. In the slalom event, Renzhyn finished 35th of 48 athletes that completed the event. He posted a time of 52.84 in his first run, and 56.07 in the second. He finished the event 9.59 seconds behind the leader.

Ice dancing

Israel qualified one entrant in ladies singles and two in ice dancing, for a total of three athletes. However, the Olympic Committee of Israel decided on January 24, 2010, to send only

and

in the

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

event, and not send

for the ladies event, because she failed to reach the criteria set by Israel NOC. The Israeli NOC said during an interview that they set targets for their athletes ahead of time, and Katz was required to finish in the top 14 at the European Championships (she finished 21st). The Secretary General went on to say that while some countries' goal is to compete, Israel's goal is to win. The Zaretsky duo was coached by their mother in Israel. They did not get much ice time, and the arena was bombed multiple times. They later moved to the United States and were coached by

Galit Chait Galit Chait ( he, גלית חייט, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bro ...

. They competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they only had two weeks notice but finished 22nd. The competition started with the compulsory dance, and the pair danced to "Tango Romantica", as the rest of the competitors did. The romantic music can be awkward for sibling pairs, but the Zaretskys say they act to get through it. They performed to "Hava Negillah" for the original dance and "Schindler’s List" for the free dance. They performed music from ''Schindler's List'' for remembrance of the Holocaust, and to pay tribute to their family's history. "Hava Negillah" is more upbeat, and they hoped to have the audience clap along and get involved. They placed tenth in each dance category, and finished tenth overall.

References

{{Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics 2010 in Israeli sport, Winter Olympics Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics Israel at the Winter Olympics by year, 2010 Winter