By Erica Lyons
Managing Editor

Israel's Shahar Zubari

The Beijing Olympics held its final grand ceremony on 24 August after seventeen days of highs and lows, simchas and sadness, but mostly a spirit of pride and peace. Just one Israeli left the games with a medal this year.

Twenty-two year old Shahar Zubari of Eilat won the bronze medal in windsurfing. Historically, sailing sports have been a good event for the Israelis, as three of their seven Olympic medals in 56 years of participation in the Olympic Games have been in sailing. Israel’s only gold medal was won by Gal Fridman in sailing in the 2004 Athens Games.

On a global scale this seems small when compared to powerhouses like China and the United States that left the games with medal counts of 100 and 110 respectively, but Israel’s total population is just over seven million people.

As for medals awarded to Jews this year, there were 10 medals in total. This is pretty remarkable, once again, considering the fact the World Jewry represents just over 12 million people. Six of these ten medals were awarded to Jewish competitors on the United States swim team.

Jason Lezak won the bronze medal for the 100 metres freestyle and Jason Lezak, Garrett Weber-Gale and Ben Wildman- Tobriner won a total of two gold medals as part of the two separate relay teams.

Dara Torres, age 41, also made headlines with the three silver medals, one for the 50 metre freestyle and two as a member of silver-medal winning relay teams. Dara Torres is the first US swimmer to compete in 5 Olympic Games. She has won a total of twelve Olympic medals: four gold, four silver and four bronze. Five of these medals were won in Sydney alone.