Aug. 18, 2004
Gymnast Gofman to grab spotlight
Frankie Sachs

Pavel Gofman already made Israeli Olympic history on Saturday night by becoming the country’s first representative to qualify for an Olympic gymnastic final. Wednesdday night he will hope to duplicate his performance with the world watching in the artistic gymnastics all-around final, which is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m.

Also on Wednesday, all of Israel’s sailors are slotted to compete, Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich face Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler in the men’s tennis doubles quarterfinals, Anna Gostomelsky swims in the 100-meter freestyle qualifying, and fencer Ayelet Ohayon takes part in the women’s individual foil.

In the event that is considered the third-most-popular Olympic sport, trailing only swimming and track & field, Gofman gives Israel its first-ever world class competitor. The 24-year-old from Tiberias has already surpassed expectations with his superb performance last weekend in the qualifying round, where he finished 12th overall to secure his place among the best 24 in the world. Heading into the games, Gofman was simply hoping to reach the final.

The all-around competition consists of six rounds: floor exercise, vault, rings, horizontal bar, parallel bars, and pommel horse.

Gofman, who is slated to start with the pommel horse, achieved his highest score in the qualifying round, 9.612, on the parallel bars. His lowest mark, 9.362, was on the horizontal bar.

Israel’s day will get started in the morning when Gostomelsky competes in the women’s 100m freestyle qualifying. She is scheduled to race in Lane 5 of Heat 4 at 10:10 a.m. Gostomelsky has little chance of reaching the semifinals, considering that 16 of the 51 announced competitors have qualifying times that are at least one second faster than Gostomelsky s Israeli record of 56.27.

If she does crack a spot among the final 16, the semifinals will be at 7:30 p.m.

The lone blue-and-white fencer, Ayelet Ohayon, will see action in the women’s individual foil starting between 10 and 11 a.m. Ohayon will have her work cut out for her just to sneak into the quarterfinals.

The 30-year-old from Kiryat Haim, who is ranked 38th in the world by the FIE, will face Germany’s Simone Bauer (15) in her first bout, and the winner will take on the world’s third-ranked fencer, Sylwia Gruchala of Poland.

This marks Ohayon’s third straight appearance at the Olympics. She placed 25th in Atlanta and 15th four years ago in Sydney.

ISRAELIS IN ACTION

Wednesday, Day 5
Artistic gymnastics: All-around final — Pavel Gofman
Swimming: Women’s 100m freestyle, qualifying and semifinals — Anna Gostomelsky
Sailing: Men’s 470 class Day 4 — Udi Gal and Gidi Kliger
Sailing: Women’s 470 class Day 4 — Vered Bouskila and Nike Kornecki
Sailing: Men’s Mistral Day 2 — Gal Friedman
Sailing: Women’s Mistral Day 2 — Lee Korsitz
Tennis: Men’s doubles, quarterfinals — Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich
Fencing: Women’s individual foil — Ayelet Ohayon