Israel has participated at nearly every Olympic Games since 1952, except for the boycott of 1980. The nation began winning medals at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and has won a medal every Summer Games since, mostly Bronzes in Judo, Sailing and Canoeing. In 2004, Gal Fridman won Israel's only Summer Olympic Gold Medal for Windsurfing in Athens. Fittingly, Gal means "wave" in Hebrew.Israel has actually had better success in the Paralympic games. In 1968, Mexico decided against hosting both an Olympic and Paralympic games and the Paralympic games then was awarded to Tel Aviv. As the host nation, Israel took third in the medals table winning a total of 62 medals, 18 of them gold.
The Mediterranean nation has participated in every Winter Olympics since 1994. Many of its athletes were figure skaters born in the former Soviet Union. The tradition began with Misha Shmenkin. He competed in 1994 and 1998 and now coaches figure skating in Virgina. The Ice Dancing pair Chait and Sakhovski followed and competed in 1998, 2002 and 2006, pictured Right. Galit Chait actually grew up in New Jersey, first figure skating at the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink in New York City. She currently coaches the Zaretsky siblings who ice danced in 2006 and will ice dance again next Friday on the 19th of February in Vancouver. This pair is based with Chait in southern New Jersey.The ice dancers are joined by Mikail Renzhin, making an entire team of three Olympic veterans. Let's hear it for Israel!
Just a short hop across the Mediterranean Sea lies balmy Cyprus. The nation has competed in every Summer and Winter Olympic Games since 1980 and has never won a medal. This year, brother and sister, Sophia and Christopher Papamichalopolou will compete in Vancouver. Sophia is picture on the left and is a 20 year old student at the American Academy in Larnaka. Cyprus actually contains a few ski resorts. This website contains a trail map and this link contains a live web cam shot of the slope.Let's hear it for Cyprus!
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