Bronzed Friedman basks in Olympic glory

by HEATHER CHAIT

ATLANTA (July 31) - "A four-year dream" is how Israel's newest Olympic medalist, Gal Friedman, described his bronze medal triumph yesterday.

In sharp contrast to the shadow of Israel's athletes in Atlanta, windsurfer Friedman has rekindled the spirit set by medalists Yael Arad and Oren Smadja in Barcelona.

After realizing his overall victory, Friedman, usually cocksure and self-confident, seemed dazed, saying, "There are no words to describe this but I feel very good. It's been a very hard road."

Friedman, two months short of his 21st birthday, won his ninth and final race on Monday, finishing the competition with 21 negative points behind gold medalist Nikos Kaklamanakis of Greece with 17 points and Argentina's Carlos Espinola with 19. The breakdown of Friedman's sails was 1, 6, 5, 3, 10, 1, 9, 4, 1.

Of the eleven scheduled races, two were canceled due to the unpredictable weather in Savannah, which ranged from no wind to gale-force.

Friedman began the last day's races in third place, but slipped to fourth after he suffered muscle cramps during the eighth sail.

"The effort was obviously too much and I strained my arm," said Friedman in an interview with Israel Television, "but I managed to relax completely before the last sail. I really wanted to pass Espinola and could have if I'd felt better but I'm very satisfied."

In the last sail, Friedman needed to finish at least two places ahead of New Zealand's Aaron McIntosh to be certain of clinching a medal. "The pressure on me was tremendous," said Friedman, "I felt the whole of Israel was watching me."

Friedman got off to an excellent start and maintained his lead throughout the race to take first place, while McIntosh was way back in seventh place.

"I was worried only about my equipment failing, because I knew nobody could beat me in the last race," said Friedman, his confidence quickly returning to him.

Friedman, from Karkur, first began windsurfing at the age of five with the encouragement of his father and uncle. At 13, he took first place at the 13th Maccabiah and he has been Israeli champion for the last four years. His success is not restricted to Israel; in 1995 he was runner-up in the European Championships and this year he was crowned silver medalist, finishing behind Kaklamanakis in the world championships in Haifa.

The medal which Friedman has adds to his trophy case will also bring him NIS 200,000 while his coach Gur Steinberg will receive half that amount.