Judoka Arik Ze'evi earns Israel its first medal at Games

By Haaretz Service
August 19, 2004

Israeli judoka Arik Ze'evi won Israel its first Olympic medal 
in the Athens Games on Thursday, after defeating Dutch opponent 
Elco Van Der Geest in the men's 100-kg judo competition.

"It was the hardest day of my life," said Ze'evi after the match, 
"in light of the people who made it to the finals it is a true 
accomplishment. I am very pleased with the bronze." 

The judoka added, "I have been under tremendous stress all week, 
particularly in the past few days." 

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Ze'evi to congratulate him on 
his victory and said: "You were under a lot of pressure and you 
stood fast as a true warrior, you have brought great joy to the 
entire nation of Israel." 

President Moshe Katsav also called Ze'evi to congratulate him 
on his winning the bronze. 

Ze'evi's bronze is Israel's fifth in Olympic history. Judoka Yael 
Arad won a silver medal in Barcelona in 1992, and judoka Oren 
Smadja won a bronze in the same games. Windsurfer Gal Friedman 
won a bronze in Atlanta in 1996, and kayakist Michael Kolganov 
won a bronze in Sydney 2000.

Ze'evi lost his chance to win a gold when he was defeated 
Thursday by Jang Sung Ho of South Korea in his third bout.

The loss led Ze'evi to the repechage group, where he defeated 
Franck Martial Moussima from Cameroon in the semi-final and 
French opponent Chislain Lemaire in the final of the group.

Ze'evi was leading the battle against Ho in the third round and 
managed to score more points than his opponent, but was thrown 
onto his shoulders in a move called an ippon, which won his 
Korean opponent the fight.

Ze'evi, the defending European champion and No. 2 in the world, 
overcame world No. 3 Mario Sabino of Brazil in his first bout. 
He went on to defeat Italian Michele Monti, who in turn defeated 
the Sydney 2000 silver medallist, Nicolas Gill of Canada.

Also on Thursday in Athens, Education Minister Limor Livnat is 
scheduled to participate in what has been described as an 
unofficial commemoration of the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which 
11 Israeli atheletes were killed.

On September 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists stormed an Olympic 
Village apartment house at the Munich Olympics, killing two Israeli 
athletes and holding the others hostage in an effort to bargain 
for the freedom of 200 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. 
In a botched rescue attempt after a 20-hour standoff, nine more 
Israeli athletes were killed, as well as five terrorists and 
a German policeman.