Agnes Keleti, the one-time Hungarian Olympic champion who made her home in Germany after winning four gold medals in gymnastics at the Melbourne Olympics, arrived in Israel today as the first foreign participant in the fifth Maccabiah.
More than 600 participants from 25 countries will compete with the same number of Israeli sportsmen in 16 fields of sport, ranging from field and track to tennis, soccer and basketball.
The Fifth Maccabiah will open on September 15 with the blessings of Chief Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog and the traditional lighting of the Maccabiah torch with fire brought from the tomb of the ancient Maccabees at Modin.
Competitions also will be held in rowing and cricket but these will take place outside the official Maccabiah program.
President Ben Zvi will participate in opening ceremonies which will feature gymnastics performances by 250 members of the Maccabi Organization. One hundred pigeons will be released to signalize the opening.
The ten-day event will feature performances by three world champions–Bob Richards of the United States in pole vaulting, Ademar de Silva of Brazil in the hop step and Miss Keleti in gymnastics.
American and British contingents, with 100 representatives each, will be the largest visiting groups. Fifty participants were scheduled from France and South Africa, 20 from Australia, 23 from Holland, 17 from Rhodesia, 11 from India, ten from Chile and many from other countries.
Special events include water polo games, bowling, in which only South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia and Israel have entered competitors, and table tennis in which world champions are scheduled to play.
Twenty-five tents and a central house were being set up for the Maccabiah Village to be placed near the Ramat Gan national park reserved for male participants. Women will be housed by Ram at Gan families.
All participants will be taken on a four-day country-wide sight-seeing tour during which they will seek performances in village squares for Israeli folk dance groups and a variety of other entertainment being organized by the Maccabiah management.
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