National swim mark only solace in dismal Olympic showing
By Viva Sarah Press
(September 17) - Israeli swimmers broke a national record yesterday on the first day of the Olympic Games in Sydney, but delegation members failed to reach the finals in all of their events.
Swimmers Alexei Manziula, Eitan Orbach, Oren Azrad, and Yoav Bruck helped end the day on a positive note, as they powered to a 3:22.06 finish in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. While their time beat the old national record of 3:23.10, it wasn't enough to qualify for the finals.
The first day of competitions began on a terrible note for Israel when Alex Danilov was disqualified in the men's 10m. air pistol qualifications. He was the only one of 43 competitors to be disqualified.
During a gun inspection, Danilov's gun was found to be lighter than the rules require. He was removed from the competition immediately. An investigation revealed there was a technical problem with Danilov's gun.
"If we had any notion that Danilov cheated, he wouldn't be in our company now," Gilad Lustig, the delegation's professional manager, told Channel 1.
Following the shooting event, swimmers Adi Bichman, Vered Borochovsky, and Tal Stricker tried their luck. Disappointingly, none of them made it past the heats.
Sailboarder Amit Inbar, a medal hopeful, will hit the waves today. Also competing today are sailboarder Michal Hein and swimmers Bichman, Micky Halika, and Orbach.
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