Jewish-American swimmer Dara Torres won two more silver medals in Beijing.
Torres won the medals Sunday in the Women’s 500-meter Freestyle and the Women’s 4 x 100 Medley Relay. Two more Jewish-American swimmers, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale, each added a second gold medal. Lezak joined Michael Phelps and two teammates to win the Men’s 4 x 100 Medley Relay final. Weber-Gale competed in the heat that led to the final. Israeli athletes did not fare as well Sunday. Alex Shatilov finished last in the Men’s Floor Exercise final, the only apparatus final the Israeli gymnast qualified for in the Beijing Games.
Shatilov fell on his final landing, and received a score of 14.125 after a .400 penalty. The gold medalist in the event was Zou Kai of China with a total score of 16.050.
Shooter Doron Egozi finished 36th, while Gil Simkovitch finished 38th, in the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event. Shooters Guy Starik and Simkovich also competed Friday in the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone qualification round, but neither advanced to the final. Starik came in 12th with a score of 594, while Simkovich came in 22nd with 592 points. This finish was an improvement on Starik’s Athens finish of 16th. He joins sailor Yoel Selais as the only Israelis to compete in four Olympics.
Israeli windsurfer Shahar Zubari, who was leading in first place after five races, slipped to third place after his seventh race in the Men’s RS:X competition. Zubari finished 17th in race 5, sixth in race 6, and 19th in race 7. He was able to maintain a first place position after race 5 because he is allowed to drop his worst performance, but after continuing to perform outside of first place, he no longer retains his top rank.
Israeli windsurfer Maayan Davidovitch is 14th in the Women’s RS:X competition after seven races.
Israeli sailing duo Nike Kornecky and Vered Bouskila finished their eighth race in first place, and moved up to third in the Women’s 470 two-person dinghy event. With two more races until the top 10 boats in the fleet qualify for the medal race Monday, the Israeli pair looks solid for advancement.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
