Flying high
David Kyte says Team GB’s medal haul at the 19th Maccabiah Games in Israel exceeded his own expectations.
The Head of Delegation was proud to see GB’s athletes bring home 31 medals, featuring six golds, including runner Ellie Edwards. The 450-strong group claimed podium finishes in a number of sports, with the junior netball and junior football squads impressing in particular.
“We had an outstanding Maccabiah, with Jerusalem as a sporting centre addingtothewholeexperienceforsomany,” said Kyte.
“It definitely exceeded certainly my expectations as it is never something thatwefocusedon–theimportantthing f o r us was to send as big a delegation as possible to enjoy the occasion and have the experience of a lifetime.”
K y t e s a y s he was spoilt for choice when it came to a Maccabiah highlight. “There were so many,” he said. “The arrival of the team at the Kotel straight from the airport at 1am in the morning was incredible, as was the Opening Ceremony with Team GB virtually running into the stadium with excitement - three of the over-45 Masters football team pulled hamstrings trying to keep up. “There was also Ricky Engleman being barmitzvah at the Kotel at 8am with all his teammates in attendance before they rushed back to Tel Aviv to play against Australia the same morning.”
Kyte believes that GB athletes will take away memories of a lifetime. “There is a lot of unbelievable Jewish sporting talent throughout the world but Maccabi and sportisthemagnetthatdrawsinJewsfrom all denominations in countries across the world and the Maccabiah brings them all toIsraelandmakesusunderstandthatwe areonefamily,”hesaid. “All too often we focus on local issues,
but the Macca- biah is a reminder - and we know it’s not perfect-whatawonderfulinstitutionwe are lucky to belong to.”
Team manager David Pinnick says Maccabi GB have been inundated with messages of congratulation from athletes and parents. He said: “We do not exclusively judge the success of the Maccabiah by our medal tally alone, although our Juniors really did excel themselves at these Games.”
“Josh Paris epitomised the whole meaningof theGames-heisawonderful tennis player and an exceptional young man on and off the court. In the team event, I would single out the Netball team for beating the Australians for the first time ever in a magnificent final.”
Summing up the experience, he said: “We take hundreds of participants to Israel - many for their first trip - all of whom are enthused about their sport - and we bring homethesame people but who along t h e w a y have developed a love of Israel a n d made friendships from across the world - many of which will last a l i f etime.”