By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Politics isn’t everything. There’s also sport. Anyone who’s visited Rome’s Coliseum, or the remains of Greek amphitheaters around the Mediterranean, knows that it’s capacity to divert has been with us for a long time. We’ve moved beyond the blood sport of the gladiators. Boxing is losing its popularity. Dog fighting
The high cost of sports Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Sports & CompetitionsCulture and Sport Minister Miri Regev on Sunday decried the Lebanese Olympic delegation’s refusal to travel on the same bus as their Israeli counterparts as “anti-Semitism” and “the worst kind of racism.” On Friday, Lebanese Olympic athletes attempted to block the Israeli team from traveling with them to the opening ceremony, according to a report
Regev blasts ‘racist’ Lebanese athletes for refusal to travel with Israelis Read More »
International, Middle East, Sports & CompetitionsRio de Janeiro (dpa) – Ibtihaj Muhammad is set to leave a mark at the Summer Olympics, no matter how she ends up doing in the women’s sabre fencing events in Rio de Janeiro. When she takes the stage at the Carioca arena in Monday’s individual tournament, she will be the first US athlete to
US Olympic fencer Muhammad makes bold statement with hijab Read More »
International, Sports & Competitions, USA
JERUSALEM (Press Release) — Recently retired NBA all-star Amare Stoudemire and current NBA star Omri Casspi on Friday afternoon, Aug. 5, gifted their friend, Entourage TV actor Jeremy Piven, with a life-saving ambucycle. The ambucycle immediately became part of Israel’s national emergency medical services (EMS) organization, United Hatzalah’s, response team. “Just the idea that we can use
Celebrities gift an ambucycle to United Hatzalah Read More »
Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & BroadcastLAUSANNE, Switzerland, Aug. 6, 2016 – Pierre de Fredy, Baron de Coubertin, was a dreamer who revived the Olympic Games in 1896. Though it was an idealistic concept to unite the countries of the world through athletic competition, the baron believed the games should encompass three things: athleticism, art and culture. Baron de Coubertin (Wikipedia)
The Olympic Museum: A Gold Medal experience in Lausanne, Switzerland Read More »
International, Sports & Competitions, Travel and FoodMembers of the Lebanese delegation to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games refused to travel on the same bus as their Israeli counterparts, with some attempting to block athletes from entering the vehicle, according to a report by an Israeli trainer who claimed to have witnessed the scene. “I kept on insisting that we board the
Lebanese Olympic team demands Israelis be removed from shared bus Read More »
International, Middle East, Sports & CompetitionsRIO DE JANEIRO — Virginia Thrasher has a gold medal, but it won’t get her a pass with her physics professor. She will return to classes at West Virginia only 20 hours after returning to the U.S. on Aug. 17. “I’ll be in physics at 8:30 a.m.,” she said. Thrasher might want to volunteer for
Virginia Thrasher helps Team USA nab first gold medal in Rio Olympics Read More »
International, Sports & Competitions, USARIO DE JANEIRO – Ask a guy who makes small, compelling, artsy films to design the opening ceremony for the Olympics and he’s not going to hand you a teeth-rattling, bombs-exploding blockbuster. And so it was that the Games of the XXXI Olympiad officially opened in Rio de Janiero on Friday night, with a presentation
Rio preaches peace for the planet in understated Olympic opening ceremony Read More »
International, Sports & CompetitionsRIO DE JANEIRO — For at least three hours on a balmy Friday night, Brazilians got a respite from months of bad publicity, a chance to belt out bossa nova, dance the samba, watch supermodel Gisele sashay across Maracana Stadium and be distracted from the political and economic turmoil that have weighed on the nation
Olympic carnival begins as Rio opening ceremonies open with a bang Read More »
International, Sports & CompetitionsRIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Press Release) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Olympic swimming great Mark Spitz met with the U.S. Olympic delegation on Friday, offering both encouragement and praise. Here is a transcript of that meeting which was held at Brazil’s Naval Academy: SECRETARY KERRY: I don’t want to temper this energy
John Kerry, Mark Spitz fire up U.S. Olympics team Read More »
International, Sports & Competitions, USA(Statistics through Aug. 1) Alon Day Photo via Wikimedia Commons Alon Day could make history as the first Israeli to drive in a NASCAR national series race. Day, 24, is poised to make his debut in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Aug. 13 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, USA Today reported on July 30.
Police used rubber bullets and pepper spray against protesters as the Olympic torch passed through a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, two days before South America’s first Olympic Games open under tight security. Some 85,000 police, soldiers and security personnel will be deployed in Rio, more than double the amount in London
BRAZIL – Police and protesters clash as Olympic torch passes through Rio Read More »
International, Sports & CompetitionsHapoel Jerusalem formally announced Monday that center Amar’e Stoudemire has agreed to a two-year contract with the Israeli League team. Stoudemire, who retired from the NBA after spending this past season with the Miami Heat, is a part-owner of Hapoel Jerusalem. In a first-person piece for The Players’ Tribune website, Stoudemire, 33, wrote of stepping
Amar’e Stoudemire finalizes two-year deal to play in Israel Read More »
Middle East, Sports & Competitions, USAThere are athletes, and then there are Olympic athletes. And then there are Jewish Olympic athletes. When the 2016 Summer Olympics open Friday, we’ll of course be cheering the American athletes — all 555 of them — and we’ll be rooting for Israel, too, which this year is sending its largest ever cohort to Rio.
2016 Olympics: 7 Jewish American Olympians to watch in Rio Read More »
International, Sports & Competitions, USA