# 2005 Maccabiah Games

The 17th Maccabiah Games (Hebrew: המכביה ה-17 ישראל תשס"ה), held in Israel, were an incarnation of the 'Jewish Olympics.' They attracted the largest attendance of any Maccabiah Games, including more than 900 representatives from the United States, almost 500 from Australia, and more than 2,000 from Israel, bringing the total participants to more than 7,700 from 55 countries.
Israel ended the games at the top of the medal count with 228 gold medals. The United States was second with 71 gold medals, while Russia came in third with 15.

## History

The Maccabiah Games were first held in 1932. In 1961, they were declared a "Regional Sports Event" by, and under the auspices and supervision of, the International Olympic Committee. Among other Olympic and world champions, swimmer Mark Spitz won 10 Maccabiah gold medals before earning his first of nine Olympic gold medals.

## Notable competitors

In fencing, Vadim Gutzeit of Ukraine, an Olympic gold medal winner in team sabre, won gold medals in individual and team sabre. Two-time Olympic gold medal winner Sergey Sharikov of Russia won the silver medal in sabre. Two-time Pan American Games gold medalist Dan Kellner won the silver medal in foil for the US, as he was defeated by Israel's Tomer Or. Soren Thompson, former US Junior Champion, NCAA Fencing Champion, and future team world epee champion, won a team silver medal in epee for the US.
In swimming, American Olympic champion Scott Goldblatt won gold medals in the 4x100 freestyle relay and the 4x200 freestyle relay, a silver medal in the 200m freestyle, and a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle. American Daniel Madwed won a gold medal and set a new Maccabiah Games record in the men's 200-meter butterfly. Israeli Yoav Gath won gold medals in both the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, setting a new Maccabiah record in the 200. Israeli Olympian Michael Halika won a gold medal in the 400 m medley, setting a Maccabiah record. Israeli Olympian Anna Gostomelsky won the women's 100m freestyle, and set a new Maccabiah record.
In women's tennis, Sharon Fichman of Canada—after defeating Israeli Julia Glushko in the semi-finals—won the gold medal at the age of 14, and also won a bronze medal in the women’s doubles, and a silver medal in mixed doubles.
In women's basketball, Shay Doron, who two years later signed with the WNBA New York Liberty, led the USA to a 5–0 record and a gold medal, and was selected Maccabiah MVP. In men's basketball, Guy Pnini (who was named tournament MVP) and Team Israel won a gold medal.
In squash, Brian L. Roberts, the Chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation, won a gold medal with the US team in his fourth Maccabiah.
In soccer, Jonathan Bornstein, Benny Feilhaber, Leo Krupnik, Matt Reiswerg, Kyle Altman, Michael Erush, Jordan Gruber, and Kevin Friedland led the US men's open soccer to their best finish ever with a silver medal. The US lost to gold medal winner Israel, which played with their U-20 National Team, which included Itay Shechter, Yuval Spungin, and Shmuel Kozokin. Tomer Chencinski and Felix Gelt represented Canada in soccer. At age 18, Samuel Scheimann represented the Netherlands at the Games in football. At the age of 13, Nick Blackman competed in the Games as part of a British schools football team.
In karate, the US Men's open team took several gold and silver medals. The youth team took one silver and one bronze. In judo, 17-year-old Alice Schlesinger won a gold medal by defeating the world champion and former Israeli Daniella Krakower in the final. Canadian future Olympian Josh Binstock competed in volleyball.
Russian grandmaster and future European champion Evgeniy Najer won a gold medal in chess, as Israeli grandmaster Ilya Smirin won a silver medal.

## Participating communities

Not all Jewish communities participated in the 2005 Maccabiah, as has been the case since 1950. Jewish communities in Arab countries (Morocco, Tunisia, etc.), as well as the community in Iran, did not send delegations. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that community contributed.
* Argentina
* Australia (500)
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bolivia
* Bulgaria
* Brazil
* Canada
* Chile
* China
* Colombia
* Costa Rica
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* Greece
* Guatemala
* Hungary
* India
* Israel (2,000)
* Italy
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Republic of Macedonia
* Mexico
* Moldova
* Netherlands
* New Zealand
* Panama
* Paraguay
* Peru
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* Serbia
* Singapore
* Slovakia
* Spain
* South Africa
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* United States (900)
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

## Medal count

* Host nation (Israel)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Israel (ISR)* | 228 | 194 | 172 | 594 |
| 2 | United States (USA) | 73 | 85 | 69 | 227 |
| 3 | Russia (RUS) | 15 | 18 | 18 | 51 |
| 4 | South Africa (RSA) | 13 | 8 | 8 | 29 |
| 5 | Canada (CAN) | 11 | 15 | 21 | 47 |
| 6 | Venezuela (VEN) | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| 7 | Ukraine (UKR) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 8 | Brazil (BRA) | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| 9 | Australia (AUS) | 3 | 8 | 27 | 38 |
| 10 | Argentina (ARG) | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 11 | Germany (GER) | 2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 12 | Hungary (HUN) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 13 | Netherlands (NED) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Mexico (MEX) | 1 | 7 | 19 | 27 |
| 15 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 7 | 15 | 23 |
| 16 | France (FRA) | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 17 | Georgia (GEO) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | Latvia (LAT) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 19 | Portugal (POR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 20 | Belarus (BLR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 23 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Azerbaijan (AZE) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 26 | Chile (CHI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Costa Rica (CRC) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | India (IND) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Romania (ROM) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Turkey (TUR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (31 entries) | Totals (31 entries) | 375 | 367 | 387 | 1,129 |

## Sports

The sports featured at the 2005 Maccabiah Games are listed below.
* Badminton
* Baseball
* Basketball
* Cricket
* Fencing
* Field hockey
* Football
* Futsal
* Golf
* Gymnastics
* Karate
* Lawn Bowling
* Rowing
* Rugby union
* Softball
* Squash
* Swimming
* Taekwondo
* Ten pin Bowling
* Tennis
* Track & Field
* Triathlon
* Volleyball
* Water polo
* Wrestling

## Footnotes

* ↑ "A brief history of the Maccabiah Games". The Canadian Jewish News. June 19, 2017.
* ↑ Helen Jefferson Lenskyj (2012). Gender Politics and the Olympic Industry. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137291158.
* ↑ Mitchell G. Bard and Moshe Schwartz (2005). 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know about Israel p. 84.
* ↑ "History of the Maccabiah Games". Maccabi Australia. Archived from the original on 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
* ↑ "At Maccabiah Games, 300 Jewish American athletes become bar and bat mitzvah". The Forward. July 14, 2022.
* ↑ "x". Archived from the original on 12 March 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
* ↑ "17th Maccabi games". 22 November 2007. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
* ↑ Berman, Shimrit (17 September 2010). "Fencing / Third time lucky for Or". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
* ↑ "World News - Fencing.Net". Archived from the original on 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
* ↑ "x". Archived from the original on January 15, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2007.
* ↑ "Or Foils Kellner at Maccabiah Games". July 19, 2005. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
* ↑ "Maccabiah Games Results for Pacific Coast Section Fencers". Archived from the original on February 22, 2007. Retrieved February 3, 2007.
* ↑ "Goldberg Swims to Six-Medal Haul at Maccabiah Games in Israel: Goldberg won the 100-meter freestyle and 200 individual medley". cstv.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2005.
* ↑ "More Records at the Maccabiah Games". SwimNews.com.
* ↑ "Smocks Wins 200-Meter Butterfly in International Games". GoHeels.com.
* 1 2 "The USA's Dan Madwed Blasts a 1:58.15 200m Fly to Highlight Day One of Maccabiah Games". July 11, 2005.
* ↑ "Complete Results of Maccabiah Games Swimming". July 19, 2005.
* ↑ "שחייה: 4 שיאי מכביה ובינ"ל אחד בפתיחה". 10 July 2005.
* ↑ "Israel impresses on the court - Julia Glushko". Jewishindependent.ca.
* ↑ "Sharon Fichman". Maccabi Canada. Archived from the original on October 9, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
* 1 2 "Israel captures soccer gold". Ynetnews. July 20, 2005.
* ↑ Kirshner, U.S. Squad, Fall Short in Maccabiah Final Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine at goaztecs.com, 23-7-2005, retrieved 29-3-2015
* ↑ "Michael Erush - Men's Soccer". Loyola Marymount University Athletics.
* ↑ "Soccer". Maccabi USA. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
* ↑ "GOLD MEDALISTS U.S. Captures Maccabi Games crown". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-04-02.
* ↑ "Kirshner's U.S. Squad Wins Three Straight at 17th Maccabiah Games". SDSU Athletics. July 18, 2005.
* ↑ Kaplan, Ron (2015). The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 9781632208552.
* 1 2 "2005 Team Canada Delegation"
* ↑ Zer Aviv, Shimon (July 9, 2012). "And the winner is… Israel or Canada?". Shalom Toronto Online. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
* ↑ Sagiv Baram (29 January 2008). תראו מה פיספסתם (in Hebrew). Walla!. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
* ↑ "Blackman joins Derby County for £2.5m"
* ↑ "Nick Blackman: I'd love to win international caps after playing at Jewish Olympics". Daily Record. 17 October 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
* ↑ "Maccabiah day 1: Swimming records set". Ynetnews. June 20, 1995. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
* ↑ Kaplowitz, Aaron (July 14, 2005). "Ze'evi cruises to judo gold. Schlesinger topples former women's world champion". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
* ↑ "TWIC 559: Maccabiah Games". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
* ↑ המדינות המשתתפות (in Hebrew). One.co.il. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved June 8, 2007.