Olympics

U.S. track and field star Allyson Felix, who won three gold medals at the Summer Olympics in London this year, is currently visiting Tel Aviv, where she took part in the city's Nike Night Run on Tuesday, Israel Hayom reported.

“I’m extremely excited about coming to Israel for the Nike Night Run,” Felix said in a statement before her trip. “I hope I can inspire the runners of Tel Aviv to not only give their best, but to beat their best, just like I did this summer in London.”

Gold-winning American Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman has accepted an invitation from Israel Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein for her and her family to make their first visit to Israel.

Raisman, who performs floor routines to the melody of “Hava Nagilah,” won an individual gold medal in her floor exercise last week and a bronze on the balance beam after helping the U.S. women’s team take the gold.

Alexandra “Aly” Raisman, who entered the London Olympics last week in the shadow of gymnastics teammates Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber, stepped into the sunlight this week.

Twice.

A week after her performance in floor exercise sealed a team gold medal, and a few hours after she won an individual bronze medal in the uneven parallel bars on Tuesday, Raisman won gold in her specialty, floor exercise.

A German Olympic rower has left the Olympic Village following claims that her boyfriend is a member of an extremist political party inspired by the Nazis.

Nadja Drygalla, who had already finished competing at the Games as part of the women’s rowing eight team reportedly left today of her own accord after a 90-minute conversation with German officials.

The Israeli Olympic tennis duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram upset the 2008 gold medalists in men’s doubles, Roger Federer and Stanislaw Wawrinca of Switzerland.

The Israelis beat the Swiss pair, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the second round on Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals to play the top-seeded duo, brothers Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States.

Separated by 40 years and 569 miles, the shadow of Munich — and the bloody terrorism that took place in the Bavarian city in 1972 — falls over London this year.

On the eve of the 30th Olympic Games, increased concerns about security, about a commemoration for the 11 Israelis who were murdered in 1972 at the Summer Olympics in Munich, and about athletes who may refuse to compete against Israelis (all a legacy of the 1972 Games) mark an increasingly politicized Olympic movement.

Forty years ago, Palestinian “Black September” terrorists murdered 11 Israeli team members during the Olympic Games in Munich. Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declined Israel’s request for a moment of silence at this summer’s London games, there are scholars working to ensure that the 1972 tragedy isn’t forgotten.
One such expert is David Clay Large, a professor of history at Montana State University and author of the book Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror, and Triumph at the Olympic Games.

Whether you’re a sports fan or not, it’s been hard to resist the seemingly endless coverage of the Summer Olympics from Beijing. And NBC, which has spent a fortune to broadcast the Games, has pulled out all the stops in trying to tie us in emotionally to many of the athletes the network features, few of whom seem to come from intact families free of tragedy.