Athens Olympics

The opening ceremony is underway, 202 national teams are walking through the Olympic stadium in Greece. I hope everything will go well. I'm cheering for two teams - Israel and the United States. Since the US is already the medal champion, I'll be watching Israeli athletes more closely. We so far have only 4 medals - one silver and three bronze medals. Hopefully, we'll get our first gold medal(s) in these Olympics, hosted by our (almost) next door neighbor. I heard wrestling is where we have most chances of getting a gold medal, as well as the pole vault. Personally, I'm hoping Arik Zeevi will win in Judo - he's been number one is so many championships, and though now he isn't at his best, I still hope he'll be able to win.

Also in Judo, Israel has won its first victory - a technical one. When Iranian champion Arash Miresmaeili and Israeli Udi Vaks were randomly drawn to compete against each other in the first round of competition. The Iranian refused to compete with an Israeli, thus redrawing from the Olympics, despite the fact he had a good chance of earning a gold medal. It's a great thing for Israel.