REPORT on the PAN AMERICAN GAMES - JANUARY 2008

BASKETBALL
The Basketball Team, managed by Jeff Houseman, coached by Mike Bainbridge, and captained by the impressive Dean Rzechta, proved a formidable competitor winning 3 out of their 4 round robin games, three of these by 4 points or less!  

Results:  Gold: Argentina; Silver: USA; Bronze: Australia

BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Our Beach Volleyball pair Danny Skrabal and Max Astafiev, managed by Peter Sheldon, had a mixed tournament, with some great wins and some disappointing losses.  The Australian team finished 5th overall.

FOOTBALL (the round ball)
The Masters’ Football team led by Larry Mendelowitz, Iggy Grey and Andrew Prentice started the competition well with a great win against Colombia (6-0), but struggled to find form after that.  The team finished in 6th place.

GOLF
Dorothy Fletcher, Sam Fletcher and Joe Hersch had a great Games.  Whilst there were no medals to be had in the Singles events, Sam and Joe teamed up with two South Africans to win Bronze in the Teams’ event.

HALF MARATHON
Sheree Freedman proved a force to be reckoned with in the 10km half marathon, claiming Gold in the Open Female division, and 2nd in overall.

SQUASH
Our lone squash player Joe Rozen, aged 72 played a wonderful tournament.  In the singles, he played in an over 45s Masters’ Competition, finishing 3rd and proving to be highly competitive against all opponents.

In the Teams’ event, joining with a Colombian and a Yank, Joe won a Silver Medal, going down to Israel in the final.

SWIMMING
Managed by Julian Rivkin and Karen Holloway, the swim team of Michael Goldstein, David Goltsman, Daniel Rivkin, David Rivkvin and Greg Shein performed outstandingly in the pool winning in excess of 20 Gold Medals!

TABLE TENNIS
Open      Singles: David Zalcberg – Gold
Doubles: David Zalcberg/Barak Mizrachi – Silver
Teams: David Zalcberg/Barak Mizrachi – Silver
The pairing of Daniel Kluger, Wynne and Eli Yarrow played off for the Bronze medal in both the Doubles and Teams’ events.
Masters       Singles: Sam Parasol – Gold; Roman Kluger – Silver
Doubles: Sam Parasol/Roman Kluger – Gold
Teams: Sam Parasol/Roman Kluger – Silver.

Many thanks to Robyn Procel for a great management job!

TENNIS
Our Masters Tennis players Tom Danos and Bert Rosenberg made us very proud.
Playing in separate age groups, they still played off against one another in the doubles’ final with Tom and his partner winning the Gold Medal.

TRIATHLON
Our triathletes Anne and Michael Besser performed well beyond their years, both winning Gold Medals in their age divisions.  Anne finished the race in 3 hours 28 minutes 7 seconds.  Michael’s time was 3 hours 5 minutes 32 seconds.

THANKS
Sincerest thanks to the management team of Mike Aronson, John Bineth and Mick Swibel for their fantastic support.

The medical team - Dr Bob Mundell, Kevin Leiberthal, Nadine Judelman, Michelle Kahn and Jeremy Kestenberg - were outstanding in keeping all athletes on their feet.

Special thanks to Shraga Gold for keeping us safe, Danny Lustig for keeping us cashed up, and Ellana Aarons for ensuring the team knew where to go at all times.

To our media team of Adam Kamien and Peter Haskin – many, many thanks.

Finally, I would like to thank the Board of Maccabi Australia for their support, in particular Harry Procel for his wise counsel.

HOLA!
Lisa Borowick
Head of Delegation

Click here to see all the photos from the Pan Am Games