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Israelis perform during the opening ceremony of the 17th Maccabiah Games in Ramat Gan Monday night. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners July 12, 2005 |
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The 17th Maccabiah Games opened with a festive ceremony at the Ramat Gan National Stadium. 7,700 athletes from 64 countries will participate in the world's largest Jewish sporting event, marking a sharp rise from the last Games in 2001, when only 2,000 athletes came. "Four years ago we were in the midst of a cruel terror onslaught designed to break our spirit," said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Your arrival here signifies the bond between all the Jewish communities with Israel at the center".Jewish athletes from 64 countries marched into Israel's national stadium Monday at the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, known as the Jewish Olympics, amid tight security.
The athletes will compete in 34 different sports throughout the 12-day event.
Thousands of police deployed to guard the opening ceremony, closing roads around the stadium. PM Sharon and President Moshe Katsav watched proceedings from the VIP stand enclosed by a specially-constructed shield of bulletproof glass.
It was organizers who called the participation of 7,700 athletes in the 17th Maccabiah Games, a success. The last Games in 2001, were cut short and only some 2,000 athletes braved the trip the region.
"Four years ago we were in the midst of a cruel terror onslaught designed to break our spirit," Sharon told the crowd. "Participants in the 16th Maccabiah who came to Israel made a great contribution to our morale."
However, this year security concerns focused on threats from Jewish extremists opposed to Sharon's "disengagement" plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements in mid-August.
"We decided to put up bulletproof glass in the dignitary section so they would have sufficient protection," said Oded Sagee, one of the Games organizers. "Protection is especially important nowadays, and the Arabs are not the concern here," he said.
But security did not mar the festive Olympic-style opening ceremony.
Sharon said he hoped the Games would spread a feeling of unity among all Jewish people. "Your arrival here signifies the bond between all the Jewish communities with Israel at the center," he said.
Sharon also called on participants to come and live in the Jewish State. "I hope that by the next Maccabiah, you will have immigrated here and be part of the Israeli delegation," he said.
Windsurfer Gal Fridman, the winner of Israel's first and only Olympic gold medal, lit the Maccabiah torch.
Thousands of dancers dressed in lavish costumes entertained the estimated 35,000 people in the stadium as hot-air balloons hovered overhead and fireworks filled the sky.
"This is a great celebration of sport for Jews," said Jewish American swimmer Lenny Krayzelburg, who won three gold medals in the Sydney Olympics and participated in the last Games.
Krayzelburg said he would not take part this time due to a lingering shoulder injury.
The first team into the stadium was the 525-strong Australian delegation.
The team was led by relatives of the four Australian team members killed when a bridge collapsed at the opening ceremony of the 1997 Games.
"Mum never got to the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah, so I thought that it would be nice to complete that," Mark Bennett, whose mother, Yetty, was one of the athletes killed, told the Haaretz daily.
The AP contributed to this report.
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