Sailors claim Israel's third Paralympic gold

by Frankie Sachs
The Jerusalem Post
September 23 2004 

Skipper Dror Cohen, Arnon Efrati, and Benni Vexler earned a 
sailing gold, Keren Leybovitch and Nimrod Zviran added bronzes 
in the pool, as did Doron Shaziri at the shooting range, for a 
total of 10 medals so far at the ongoing Paralympic Games in 
Athens. Those medals, including three golds, rank Israel 26th 
of the 65 medal-winning nations. 

With a four-point lead over the second place Dutch trio going 
into the deciding race, Cohen, Efrati, and Vexler made no doubt 
as to the destination of the gold as they won the ninth and 
final sail in the Mixed Sonar (3-Person) sailing competition. 
The Israelis, who won four races and never finished out of the 
top four, amassed 19 points, nine less than the silver-medal-winning 
Dutchmen. Fifteen teams took part in the competition. 

Leybovitch, who already had a gold and a silver, completed the 
set by finishing the 200-meter individual medley (S8 handicap) 
in third place. She was joined by Zviran, who earned his first 
medal in the 400-m. freestyle (S7). 

Leybovitch touched the wall in 3:03.38, which was over eight 
seconds behind the winner and new world-record holder Dora 
Pasztory of Hungary. 

Zviran held off American Lantz Lamback by the tiniest of margins, 
0.01 seconds, to claim his hardware. The 21-year-old finished in 
5:06.15, which was 10 seconds behind the winner, David Roberts 
of Great Britain. 

Shaziri also added to his collection with a second bronze. 
After placing third on Tuesday in the 3x40-m., he repeated the 
result in the rifle prone on the final day of shooting. 
Shaziri, who was fourth heading into the finals, overtook 
teammate Avi Hadassi for the medal. 

Hadassi's 99.2 points in the finals was the second-lowest of the 
eight men that reached that stage. Shaziri recorded 102.4, 
which allowed him to make up a two-point deficit and overtake 
Hadassi. Both Shaziri and Hadassi are coached by Olympic shooter 
Guy Starik.