Despite the overall feeling of failure among the Israeli delegation at the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, the Olympic Committee of Israel says it is pleased with the delegation's performance.
Out of the entire Israeli delegation only the rhythmic gymnasts and the marathon runner Haile Satayin are still competing in the Games as they moves into their final weekend, while the only medal won by Israel so far was Shahar Zubari's bronze in the mens windsurfing competition.
Olympic Committee of Israel Secretary General Efraim Zinger and the director of Israel's Elite Sport Department, Gili Lostig, claimed that when looking at the overall picture the delegation performed as expected, yet the biggest disappointments of the Games were the poor performances by the OCI's top medal prospects.
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich lost in the first round of the doubles tournament, judoka Arik Ze'evi won just one of his three fights, and Udi Gal and Gidi Kliger finished the 470 Class sailing competition in 14th position.
Efraim Lostig says that those failures, however, shouldn't be allowed to erase Israel’s positive achievements in the Games.
"In some events we did very well and in some events we didn't do so well, but our expectations were to claim one medal and reach between six and eight finals and I think we will be close to that," he said.
"Of course, there was a sense of disappointment in some of the events, but overall around 50 percent of the athletes performed as we predicted."
"Our medal favorites Ram and Erlich, Ze'evi and Gal and Kliger didn't succeed and obviously that caused a sense of disappointment. But our country is one which swings rapidly from black to white and from euphoria to depression."
Lostig was, however, keen to emphasize that there were some accomplishments, and not just Shahar Zubari's bronze medal.
"We did well in certain events. The sailing competitions went very well and so did the swimming. In the Artistic Gymnastics we also succeeded. We have no regrets about any of the athletes we sent as they all met very tough criteria."
"This is also a changing of the guard delegation. Some 23 of the 43 athletes are under 23-years-old and that's an amazing fact. "This means we have a young group of sportsmen which is replacing the older generation and this group will blossom in London 2012." 08/22/08
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