In general, and with very few exceptions, the Jews are not known for their sporting ability. From the Greeks and Romans with their Olympic Games, marathons and worship of the human body, through to nowadays, we Jews are more renowned for our brains than our brawn. Yes, we have Aly Raisman, the American Olympic superstar, and Mark Spitz who won 7 gold medals in the ill-fated 1972 Olympics, but Israelis are once again bemoaning our lack of medal-power (although there is still hope with the rhythmic gymnastics team), notwithstanding the two bronze medals won this year by judokas Yarden Gerbi (trained by former silver medallist Yael Arad) and Or Sasson.   The one notable exception on Israel’s record was gold medallist Gal Fridman in the sailboard competition in 2004. You can see Israel’s sad showing at the Olympics at this table.

But unbeknownst to most of us, there was…