Monday, July 07, 2008

Jewish Olympians 2008

I find it odd that various and sundry Jewish leaders have told Jewish Olympians/ athletes to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics and yet it seems humanly impossible to find a list of Jewishly affiliated Olympic athletes anywhere.

In frustration, I therefore turn to you, o' bloggers. Other than Israeli Olympians, which American/ English/ French/ other Olympic-bound athletes identify themselves as Jewish? If you could direct me to a list or even simply post names in the comment thread, that would be much appreciated.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

One name comes to mind-Ira Newble from Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team. Hope this is helpful.

Anonymous said...

Here's a list from the 2004 olympics:

http://www.jewishsports.com/jewsin/2004olympics.htm

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure I follow. Certain rabbanim say atheletes should boycott the games and you expect non-affiliated jews to do so? Why on Earth would you think that? Why would someone give up their dreams because the orthodox union (just an example, not sure what their position is on the games) says so?

Chana said...

no, elster. I need the list of Jewish athletes for something completely different. I was just remarking on how odd it was that people address remarks (no one said their directives would be followed) to "Jewish Olympians" and yet I cannot find a list of these people.

Anonymous said...

Ah - a thousand apologies.

Jack Steiner said...

http://www.jewishsports.com/

Ben Greenfield said...

As bad as China is, I think Jewish spectators can boycott - but not the athletes. How much effort and work it takes to become an Olympian, the loss is so great, the gain so little.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, at least here in the US, some of the Olympic Trials are just now (currently) taking place. Therefore, there's not really a list available yet per say.

Anonymous said...

Dara Torres

Anonymous said...

i am a Australian Jewish spectator going to the games, and doing so proudly. I am going to support the Olympics and the Australian Team, not the Chinese government. Sports and Politics dont have to mix

Calamity Z said...

Your logic makes no sense.

If "Jewish leaders" want the Jewish athletes to boycott the games, the athletes know who they are -- whether or not they are Jewish -- an can deliberate and decide whether or not they want to compete.

Having a list of "Jewish Olympians" is a different thing entirely.

Where is the parallel?

And do you think it would be smart to have a list of every Jewish athlete from every competing country!

Sure.

Nobody would want to target a Jewish athlete.

Munich 1972?!

Anonymous said...

There are a number of Jewish athletes competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics. There are seven Jewish athletes on the U.S. team, four of whom are swimmers. All four Jewish swimmers for the U.S. team have already won silver or gold medals.

Anonymous said...

http://jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/special/olympics708.html