TWELFTH MACCABIAH

The Twelfth Maccabiah: 5745

July 15 to July 25, 1985

Notable Athlethes

Champion sprinter (100 and 200 meter) Gary Wilson
British champion of the Eleventh Maccabiah, James Aspir, won the 1,500 and 5,000 meter races.
Winner of the 400 meter race, Australian Mark Rosenberg, set a Maccabiah record worthy of international recognition (46.54 seconds).
Two-time sprint winner, Lisa Grupp was outstanding among women athletes.
The American Jerry Wilko excelled in shot put and discus throw and Carrie Fabin of world renown participated in the golf competitions.
In swimming, a new champion, Seth Brown arose, replacing Mark Spitz, if not in virtuosity, then in the number of Gold Medals -- six.
Eyal Shtigman was the Israeli hit at the pool, setting a Maccabiah and Israeli record for the 100 meter breast stroke.
Eleven year old Stephanie Rosenthal, the promising swimmer on the United States all-star team, was the attraction, setting five international records in the under-twelve category.
Ofer Botzer of Zevulun Jaffa, who ranked eighth in the European heavyweight surfboard champtionship won the Gold Medal for this competition.
Brazilian marksman Alehandro (Aryeh) Stessin won five Gold Medals in pistol shooting
Zvia Weissfield won the Gold Medal in the javelin throw.
Table tennis Maccabiah champions were Israelis Dror Pollack, six time Israeli champion, and Iris Karni.

Basic Facts

3,700 Athletes from thirty seven countries competed in thirty events at the Twelfth Maccabiah
Mark Spitz, winner of seven Gold Medals for swimming at the Munich Olympics (1972) bore the torch accompanied by Shirley Shapira and Shulamit Romano, whose fathers were murdered by PLO terrorists at the Munich Games.
In thirty nine track and field competitions, nineteen Maccabiah records -- twelve mens and seven womens -- were broken, including the Israeli decathlon record. Israel won fifty four of the 117 medals awarded. At the pool, twenty one Maccabiah records were broken in thirty heats.
In the final Maccabiah tally, the Americans had won nearly half the Gold Medals, ninety Silver Medals and seventy four Bronze

Joining the Party: Countries who participated for the first time