History
Originally conceived by Yosef Yekutieli, a 15-year-old inspired by the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games, the Games were first held in 1932 after 14 years of development by Yekutieli and the Jewish National Fund. During the planning stages, the games were nicknamed the Maccabiyon, and 1932 was selected as the year to host the first games, marking the 1,800th anniversary of the Bar Kochba revolt.
To generate interest in the games, and collect donations with which to build a stadium in Tel Aviv (Maccabiah Stadium), a group of representatives traveled by motorcycle on two separate routes, promoting the games to different communities. The first was from Palestine to Syria, Turkey, Poland, Germany, France, and Belgium. The second from May 10 through July 16, 1931, went from Tel Aviv through the Sinai desert to Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, and then proceeded by ship to Salonika in Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, and France, and by ferry to Brighton and the English cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds to Glasgow in Scotland, and home via Beirut in Lebanon.
The 1932 Maccabiah Games were opened on March 28, 1932, and about 400 sportsmen took part. The games were held in athletics, football, and swimming. The second games, 1935 Maccabiah Games, was held in April 1935, and about 1,350 athletes competed.
The 1997 Maccabiah Games were marred by a Maccabiah Bridge Disaster when a temporary bridge built for the march of athletes at the opening ceremony collapsed, plunging about 100 members of the Australian delegation into the polluted waters of Yarkon River. Four athletes were killed and 63 injured.
The 2005 Maccabiah Games attracted 900 representatives from the United States, 500 from Australia, and over 2,000 from Israel, bringing the total participants to more than 7,700. Israel finished at the top of the medal count with 227 gold medals. The United States was a distant second with 71 gold medals, while Russia came in third with 15.
The 2009 Maccabiah Games hosted athletes from 51 countries competing in 31 sports events.
Read more about this topic: Maccabiah Games
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