Maccabiah Games opening ceremony
Flag bearer Roy Vandersluis leads the Australian team into Ramat Gan Stadium to herald the opening of the 18th Maccabiah Games in Israel on July 13. Photo: Peter Haskin
DAVID WEINER AT RAMAT GAN STADIUM
ISRAEL welcomed 7000 world-Jewry “home” with a spectacular opening ceremony to launch the 18th Maccabiah Games at Israel’s national stadium in Ramat Gan on Monday night.
The gala event kicked off with athletes from 65 countries marching through a packed house of family, fans and political dignitaries.
The Israeli delegation received the biggest cheer of the night as they rounded out the parade of nations. But among the proud display of Blue and White, no one could miss the vibrant Green and Gold army, who were led by record-breaking nine-time participant Roy Vandersluis.
Both on the ground and in the stand, the sound of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” and other classic Australia ditties were never too far away.
Australian tenpin bowler Josh Small opened the official proceedings, silencing the crowd with a stirring Yizkor in memory of his father Greg and the three other Australians — Elizabeth Sawicki, Yetti Bennett and Warren Zines — who were killed in the 1997 bridge collapse.
The prayer was also in honour of Israel’s lost soldiers and those athletes killed at the Munich Olympics.
The ceremony was filled with glitz, fireworks, lights and music, but there was an overriding sense of Jewish pride as athletes mingled and feverishly traded uniforms.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu summed up the overriding sense of Zionist and Jewish pride in the stadium, telling the 30,000 strong audience: “Our brothers and sisters from every continent, from North America, from Europe, from Africa, South America, from Asia and Australia, you come here representing 65 different countries, but above all, you represent one united nation, the nation of Israel”.
President Shimon Peres then declared the Games open, before American Olympic gold medallist Jason Lezak took the torch after its 11-day journey and lit the Maccabiah cauldron to a raucous cheer.
Nineteen-year-old Josh was seven when his father plunged into the Ha’arkon River with his Australian team-mates at the 1997 Maccabiah Games.
As the 2009 team, featuring Josh, counted down to this year’s Games, the Australian delegation took time out on Thursday morning to pause and remember the 1997 tragedy — just metres from where it occurred.
Earlier in the week more than 400 members of the Australian delegation to the 18th Maccabiah in Israel crossed the still poisoned waters of the Yarkon River to attend a memorial service in honour of the four athletes who lost their lives in 1997.
Flowers were laid at the foot of the memorial to Sawicki, Bennett, Small and Zines alongside a wreath bearing the words “from the Government and people of Australia”, laid by the ambassador.
Speeches and prayers were followed by addresses from various dignitaries, including Australia’s ambassador to Israel and the president of Maccabi Australia, Harry Procel. Josh Small wore his father’s team shirt from 1997 and addressed the emotional crowd.
“I am here, in this place, at this time and I will finish off what you started all those years ago and I will do my best to win your pride and maybe a medal,” he said.