Orbach first-ever Israeli to reach Olympic swimming finals
By Viva Sarah Press
Eitan Orbach became the first Israeli ever to reach a swimming final by finishing sixth in the 100-meter backstroke semifinals yesterday.
"I proved to myself and to everyone that I'm worthy of being an Olympic finalist," he told the Achla Web site after he set a national record with a time of 55.31 seconds.
US swimmer Lenny Krayzelburg had the best time in that semifinal race with a finish of 54.32. Krayzelburg is one of the top Jewish athletes at the Games and is favored to win today's race.
Following yesterday's race, Krayzelburg said he would very much like to attend next year's Maccabiah after having been invited by Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert.
While Orbach was the star of the day as far as the Israeli delegation is concerned, he wasn't prepared to keep the spotlight on himself and heaped praise on his teammates.
"I think this is a great day for Israeli swimming as a whole," he told Achla. "[Micky] Halika's results today were amazing, and we proved that Israel's swimming ability is on a world level."
Halika swam the 400m. individual medley in a time of 4:19.97, giving him sixth place in his heat. This was his personal best time, but overall he finished 11th in the preliminaries, missing the top eight needed to make the semifinals.
"[Halika] was very close," Orbach told Channel 1. "It is very difficult to swim in the morning... he did a great job."
In his own stunning performance, Orbach broke the national backstroke record twice yesterday - the first time in the preliminaries and then again in the semifinals. The record before the Sydney Games was 55.62. Orbach clocked in at 55.44 in the heats, and then 55.31 in the semifinals.
Orbach was the first-ever sabra to win a medal in a major swimming championship when he took the silver in the 1998 European championships.
In 1999, he again stood on the podium at the European championships, this time taking the bronze medal.
"This was a huge day for the swimming team and for Orbach," Gilad Lustig, the delegation's professional manager, told Channel 1. "Orbach proved he's a great swimmer, a true winner, who knows how to come through at the crucial moments. He is the first swimmer who is going to the finals. All the best to him."
Following a disappointing first day at the Olympics on Saturday, Adi Bichman had another poor showing in the 400m. freestyle race yesterday. Bichman looked good in the first 200m. but lost something in the latter half of the race. She finished with a time of 4:27.33, placing her 38 out of 39 swimmers.
Bichman will try her luck again on Thursday in the 800m. freestyle.
Meantime, Halika and Vered Borochovsky are hoping for positive results in today's 200m. butterfly and 200m. individual medley races respectively. Orbach swims for a medal at 11:55 a.m.
Sailboarders looking good
Sailboarders Amit Inbar and Michal Hein recorded solid performances in their events yesterday, finishing sixth and ninth respectively after two races.
Inbar, one of Israel's top medal hopefuls, surfed to a score of 16. In sailboarding, the higher the score, the poorer the performance.
"I had one good race and one not so good race," Inbar told the Israel Olympic Committee's Web site. "I hope to keep the momentum [today]."
Austrian Cristoph Sieber is leading the men's mistral event of 36 competitors with a score of three points. But Inbar is hardly out of the race, as Argentinean Carlos Espinola is in second with 11 points and Taipei's Ted Huang is in third with 13 points. There are 11 races in total in the mistral event for women and men.
Women's sailboarder Michal Hein also posted a promising score, finishing ninth with 19 points after two of the 11 races.
In the women's field there are 29 competitors, and Germany is in the lead with three points.
Lanee Butler of the US was disqualified from the first race after Atlanta gold medalist Lai Shan Lee of Hong Kong complained that Butler hit her board.
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