Well, if I’d written this last week, my answer would probably have been a resounding YES. Let’s face it, there aren’t too many Israeli sporting superstars out there, are there? Besides perhaps Yossi Benayoun, who has made a big impression over at Liverpool over the last year or so, can anyone beyond Israel’s shores come up with the name of an Israeli sport star (and no, Bar Refaeli’s bikini pictures don’t make her a world famous swimmer)? I doubt it.
But credit where credit’s due. This weekend saw an amazing performance from the Israeli tennis team in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup. They ousted the Russian team, including former world number one Marat Safin, a team that had twice won the Davis Cup and made it to the semi-finals the last two tournaments. Quite a memorable moment in Israel’s sporting history.
And yet more sporting heroics may well be seen over the coming days at the Maccabiah Games, which officially kicks off today in Israel. There’ll be a ton of Israelis in with a chance of grabbing some gold and it will make all the right headlines on the back pages, especially in a country usually starved of sporting success.
OK, the Maccabiah Games, the fifth largest sporting event in the world purely through the number of participating athletes, is hardly a barometer of a country’s sporting prowess. But it does give a nation of sports lovers a brief glimpse of glory, a moment of success. Because boy, have the Israeli public been starved of genuine sporting superstars.
Yes, the past few Olympics have seen a medal here and there and even a gold (for windsurfing), but it’s these money time sporting events where Israel’s sporting ability really needs to shine. And it usually doesn’t. I’m not really knocking the effort of some of those working their socks off for some sporting glory, they have my upmost respect. It’s just the lack of support they get from above, the lack of funding, as well as the pure amateurism that seems so prevalent throughout the sporting world in Israel.
But, as my very lovely and very Jewish wife points out, the Jewish brain is the real powerhouse in the international arena. Guess I’d better throw away the footballs and get my kids a chess board then, eh?