The Maccabiah Games (Hebrew: מַכַּבִּיָּה) is an international Jewish athletic event similar to the Olympics. The Maccabiah is held in Israel every four years under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation, a part of the Maccabi World Union. ^[1] It is sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee and World Federation of Sports. The Maccabiah Games, ranking among the five largest sports gatherings in the world (in number of participants), are considered Regional Games by the International Olympic Committee. “Hebrew” redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... The Maccabiah Games (Hebrew: ) is an international Jewish athletic event similar to the Olympics. ... The Maccabi World Union was created at the 12th World Jewish Congress in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia in 1921. ... Stamp The International Olympic Committee is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on June 23, 1894 to reinstate the Ancient Olympic Games held in Greece between 776 BC to 396 AD. Its membership is 203 National Olympic Committees. ...

History

Originally conceived by Yosef Yekutieli, a 15-year-old inspired by the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games, the Games were first held in 1932 after 14 years of development by Yekutieli and the Jewish National Fund. During the planning stages, the games were nicknamed the Maccabiyon and 1932 was selected as the year to host the first game marking the 1,800 anniversary to the Bar Kochba revolt. The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were held in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... The JNF logo found on all JNF charity boxes. ... Simon bar Kokhba was a Jewish military leader who led a revolt against the Romans in AD 132. ...

To garner interest in the games and collect donations for the building of a stadium in Tel Aviv (Ha'Maccabiah Stadium), a group of representatives traveled on two separate routes to promote the games to different communities. The first being from Palestine to Syria, Turkey, Poland, Germany, France and Belgium. The second went through the Sinai desert to Cairo and then proceeded to Greece, Yugoslavia, Czechoslavakia, Austria and France. Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ... Flag Britain unilaterally closed the territory east of the Jordan River (Transjordan) to Jewish settlement and organized Transjordan as an autonomous state in 1923. ... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 The Sinai Peninsula (in Arabic, Shibh Jazirat Sina) is a triangle-shaped peninsula lying between the Mediterranean Sea (to the north) and Red Sea (to the south). ... Nickname: Egypt: Site of Cairo (top center) Coordinates: Government  - Governor Dr. Abdul Azim Wazir Area  - City 214 km²  (82. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in Latin, Југославија in Cyrillic, English: Land of the South Slavs) describes four political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ...

The First Maccabiah

Main article: 1932 Maccabiah Games

The first Games were opened by Tel Aviv Mayor Meir Dizengoff, with almost 400 athletes from 18 countries participating, including over 60 athletes from Arab countries such as Syria and Egypt. The 1932 Maccabiah Games were the first ever held during the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ... Meir Dizengoff (Hebrew: מאיר דיזנגוף, Russian: Меер Янкелевич Дизенгоф, Meyer Yankelevich Dizengof; 1861, Akimovichi, Bessarabia - 1936, Tel Aviv, Israel) was an Israeli politician and mayor of Tel Aviv. ...

Since 1932, the Games have been held roughly every four years. The third Maccabiah Games, scheduled for 1938, was delayed until 1950 due to the rise of Nazism in Europe and the outbreak of the Second World War. Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

The Maccabiah Games have been a quadrennial event since 1957. (See Maccabiah Squash) 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Among the Olympic gold medalists, world champions, and world record holders who have competed in the Maccabiah Games are Mark Spitz, Lenny Krayzelburg, and Marilyn Ramenofsky (swimming); Debbie Lipman (diving); Mitch Gaylord, Abie Grossfeld, and Agnes Keleti (gymnastics); Larry Brown, Ernie Grunfeld, Danny Schayes, (coaches) Nat Holman and Dolph Schayes (basketball); Carina Benninga (field hockey); Lillian Copeland, Gerald Ashworth, and Gary Gubner (track and field); Angela Buxton, Julie Heldman, Allen Fox, and Dick Savitt (tennis); Angelica Rozeanu (table tennis); Sergei Charikov amd Vadim Gutzeit (fencing); Isaac Berger and Frank Spellman (weightlifting); and Fred Oberlander and Henry Wittenberg (wrestling).[1] Gold Medal is an album by American band The Donnas, released in 2004. ... Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950, in Modesto, California) is a American swimmer. ... Lenny Krayzelburg (Yiddish לעני קרײַזלבורג, Russian Ленни Крайзельбург) is an American backstroke swimmer. ... Marilyn Ramenofsky (born August 20, 1946, in Phoenix, Arizona) was an American freestyle swimmer. ... Mitchell (Mitch) Jay Gaylord (born March 10, 1961) is an American gymnast and Olympic Gold Medalist. ... Abie Grossfeld (b. ... Ágnès Keleti (born 1921 in Budapest, Hungary) was an artistic gymnast. ... Larry Brown For other people of the same name, see Larry Brown (disambiguation). ... Ernest (Ernie) Grunfeld (born April 24, 1955, in Satu Mare, Romania) is an American former professional basketball player. ... Daniel Leslie Schayes (born May 10, 1959 in Syracuse, New York) is a former professional basketball player who played in the NBA from 1981 until 1999. ... Nat Holman (b. ... Adolph Schayes (known as Dolph Schayes) (born May 19, 1928 in New York, New York) was a professional basketball player and coach in the NBA. He played his college basketball at New York University 1944-48. ... Carina Marguerite Benninga (born on August 18, 1962 in Leiden) is a former Dutch field hockey player, who played 158 international matches for The Netherlands, in which she scored 25 goals. ... Lillian Copeland (November 25, 1904 – July 7, 1964) was an American athlete, who excelled in the throwing events. ... Gerald Howard Gerry Ashworth (born May 1, 1942) is a former American athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 4x100 m relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics. ... Gary Gubner (born December 1, 1942, in New York, New York) was an American shotputter, weightlifter, and discus hurler. ... Angela Buxton (born August 16, 1934, Liverpool, England) is an English tennis player. ... Julie Heldman (born December 8, 1945) won 22 professional tennis titles and helped pioneer the womens pro circuit. ... Allen Fox (born June 25, 1939 in Los Angeles, California) was an outstanding tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to be a college coach and author. ... Richard Dick Savitt (born on March 4, 1927 in Boyonne, New Jersey) was an American male tennis player. ... Angelica Adelstein-Rozeanu (October 15, 1921 – February 22, 2006) was a Jewish Romanian table tennis player, and the most successful female table tennis player in the history of the sport. ... Sergei Charikov (also spelled Serguei and Scharikov), born June 18, 1974, in Moscow, Russia, is a left-handed Russian sabre fencer. ... Vadim Gutzeit (also Vadym Guttsayt; born October 6, 1971, in the Ukraine) is an Olympic sabre fencer. ... Isaac Berger (born November 16, 1936) was an Olympic weightlifter for the United States. ... Frank Spellman (born September 17, 1922, in Malvern, Pennsylvania) was an American weightlifter. ...

Tragedy at the 15th Maccabiah Games

Main article: 1997 Maccabiah Games

The 15th Maccabiah in 1997 had more than 5,000 athletes from 53 countries competing in 36 sports. The 1997 Maccabiah Games were one of the most famous games every in history as it was marred with tragedy when a bridge carrying the Australian delegation collapsed killing four people. ...

New sports for the Games included beach volleyball, ice hockey, and taekwondo. 1992 Olympian Tamara Levinson earned 5 golds in rhythmic gymnastics. Rhythmic gymnasts from Greece in the 2000 Sydney Olympics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which single competitors or groups of two or more manipulate five types of apparatus: Ball, Clubs, Hoop, Ribbon, and Rope. ...

The Games were marred by the collapse of a bridge, causing some athletes on the bridge who were marching into the Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv for the Opening Ceremony to fall into the highly-polluted Yarkon River. Ramat Gan Stadium (Hebrew: איצטדיון רמת-גן), also known as the The National Stadium (האצטדיון הלאומי), is situated, as the name implies, in Ramat Gan, Israel. ... Part of the ceremony of the Changing of the Guard in Whitehall, London. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Four Australians, Greg Small, Elizabeth Sawicki, Yetty Bennett, and Warren Zines, were killed when the bridge collapsed. Scores more were injured.

After the accident, both the Opening Ceremony and the Games themselves continued——albeit with lower enthusiasm——with spectators in the stadium not given any information as to what had happened at the bridge. The ceremony was delayed, and then only the torch lighting aspect of the ceremony occurred. Spectators were only aware that something was wrong when none of the regular scheduled events happened, including the march of the athletes. Only after they left and listen to the radio, did the spectators find out about the collapsed bridge.

Many inquests were completed into the collapse of the bridge by both Israeli and Australian authorities.

16th Maccabiah Games

Main article: 2001 Maccabiah Games

For the 2001 Games, the Opening Ceremony was held in Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium, while the re-building process of the collapsed bridge and investigations into the collapse continued. For the 2001 16th Maccabiah Games (Hebrew: ), the Opening Ceremony was held in Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium, while the re-building process of the collapsed bridge and investigations into the collapse continued. ... For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ...

It is considered a 'smaller games' for three reasons: attendance was significantly lower, particularly from the Australians (it sent only about 170 athletes, compared with around 400 in 1997); it was run at the height of the Second Intifada (and straight after the infamous Dolphinarium bombing—the largest of the Intifada—that killed 21 Israelis, mostly high school students); and not all wounds had been healed after the collapse of the bridge. For other uses, see al-Aqsa (disambiguation). ... The Dolphinarium Massacre was a suicide bombing carried out by a Hamas militant in a discotheque near the dolphinarium in Tel-Aviv, Israel on June 1, 2001. ...

The 16th Maccabiah attracted more than 2,200 athletes from 46 countries.

The 2001 games opened with a sellout crowd of more than 25,000 spectators. The Games saw the addition of juniors futsal and girls’ soccer, as well as the return of women’s basketball. US Olympic swimming gold medalist and former world record holder, Lenny Krayzelburg, earned gold and set a new Maccabiah record in the 100-meter backstroke. Russian Olympic fencing gold medalists Sergei Scharikov and Maria Mazina, coached by former Soviet Olympic fencing gold medalist Mark Rakita, won Maccabiah gold medals. Futsal in Germany Futsal is an indoor version of football (soccer). ... Lenny Krayzelburg (Yiddish לעני קרײַזלבורג, Russian Ленни Крайзельбург) is an American backstroke swimmer. ... Sergei Charikov (also Serguei Charikov, born June 18, 1974, in Moscow, Russia) is a left-handed Russian sabre fencer. ... Maria Mazina, also known as Mariya Mazina, born April 18, 1964, is a Russian womens epee fencer. ... Mark Semenovich Rakita (Russian: ) (born July 22, 1938 in Moscow, USSR) (Russian: ) - a famed sabreur and coach from the Soviet era. ...

17th Maccabiah Games

Main article: 2005 Maccabiah Games

The 2005 Maccabiah Games were considered a success. Attendance was back up, and three out of four families of those who died in the 1997 bridge collapse attended. The 2005 Maccabiah Games (Hebrew: ) were a success. ...

It attracted the largest attendance of any Maccabiah Games to date, including more than 900 representatives from the United States, almost 500 from Australia, and more than 2,000 from Israel, bringing the total participants to more than 7,700.

Israel romped home at the head of the winners' table with 227 gold medals. The United States was a distant second with 71 gold medals, while Russia came in third with 15.

World Maccabi bodies

• U.S. Maccabi
• Canada Maccabi
• Maccabi Hungary
• Maccabi Australia
• Maccabi Italia
• Maccabi GB

Many Jewish schools from all over the world send students who are particularly talented in a sport to Israel to participate in the games.

• Brady Maccabi Youth Club

Footnotes

1. ^ The Maccabi movement, started in 1895 and named after Judah Maccabee, is an international Jewish sports, cultural, social, and educational organization,

1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Judas Maccabeus (or Judah the Maccabee from the Hebrew יהודה המכבי transliteration: Yehudah HaMakabi) translation: Judah the Hammer was the third son of the Jewish priest Mattathias. ...

External link

• Summaries of each of the games