Yael and Oren: Still heroes

COMMENT by HEATHER CHAIT

(July 25) - There is no need to mourn over what happened to Yael Arad and Oren Smadja in Atlanta.

For the two judokas who did the unimaginable in Barcelona, bringing home medals, are made of the stuff of true athletes.

After Barcelona, Arad and Smadja were thrust into the public eye and their every movement, sneeze and injury became a point of focus.

In a country which lacks sportspeople of their level and where they seek competitors overseas, the pressure on these two was enormous and out of proportion.

Yet they did not cower.

Arad briefly considered retiring but after a year's absence, she returned with renewed vigor while Smadja learned how to field the media, keeping his goal within sight.

That goal came and went on Tuesday, with a different ending to the one that millions of Israelis had in mind, especially the two judokas themselves.

For nobody knows the feeling of a near-miss more than a top athlete, who has touched the Olympic dream and clung to the chance of repeating it.

But the Olympics are not like a tennis match; if you are not at peak fitness, you can't just skip that day and compete tomorrow.

During four years the world's outstanding sportspeople prepare themselves only and directly for the Olympics, the pinnacle event.

This year, luck stepped in to foil the Israeli plans.

Two weeks before competing, Smadja tore a ligament in his knee, the same knee he had injured in 1991. He knew well what this meant - that he needed a complete break from training - but also that he had to ignore it, relying on his mental strength, now that his physical ability had let him down.

Not heeding doctors' advice to forfeit the Games, Smadja walked onto the mat, dragging his leg as if it were made of wood as the pain covered his face.

This was the moment when he proved he is a real sportsman. Even afterwards, he refused to blame his injury, saying, "This is sport."

Arad's miss was different. She was still suffering from a virus and at only 70 percent of her potential but entered the fight like a lioness, eyes glinting and legs darting.

When forced into the consolation group, she kept up the challenge, slapping her face and attacking with a grim determination.

Arad fought to meet the expectations of her adoring fans, for the thousands of young judokas throughout Israel who idolize her.

When she lost, she was quick to hug her opponent, a genuine sports ambassador until the end - in what was her final Olympic appearance.

So, let us not ache over what was not.

The pursuit of a second Olympic medal is apparently harder than the first and when injury and illness enter the equation, the odds are diminished.

Arad and Smadja represent sport at its best and brought Israel into the annals of Olympic history. They did not let us down, they gave us their all in the quest for perfection.