Maccabiah misunderstandings

I am writing in response to James Espir’s letter “Going Backwards” in last week’s paper. How dare he insult the many Maccabiah competitors by calling them “slower , lower, weaker”?

A quick recap on recent competitors that spring to mind:

1. 2009: Richard Goodman — double gold medallist GB at 1500m/3000m (as a junior in a very competitive field, unlike Mr Espir who I see did not medal/ compete as a junior).

Richard has gone on to be European cross country champion.

Hardly low calibre.

2. 2013: Steve Solomon— five time Australia 400m Champion plus 2012 Olympic 400m finalist, but lost to an Israeli in the 400m final, such was the standard. So the guy reaches an Olympic Final but doesn’t have a Maccabiah Gold!

3. 2017: Eden Davis — double individual sprint gold plus relay silver. Went straight from Maccabiah to compete for GB in under 20 European Champs.

4. 2017: David Stone —only 15 but won 3k by 50m. Nationally ranked and will win many more golds .

5. 2013/17: Ellie Edwards — double gold medalist junior 200m gold who retained 200m gold in open age group and has six medals across two Games. Been county champ numerous times as well as in individual national finals.

In fact, Team GB Track and Field was a major success story of these Games. And competition in the Maccabiah has got much tougher.

There was a record number of participants this year and top Jewish sports stars from around the globe turned up across all sports. The USA 4 x 100m swimming medley relay team included three Olympic gold medallists, Anthony Ervin, Lenny Krayzelburg, Jason Lezak. Are they not “true international sportsmen”?

Eddie Edwards,

Prestwich , Manchester

I attended the Maccabiah Games in 2009 as a cricket umpire