Wednesday, January 12, 2000
Maccabi Games to attract 2,500 to Tristate in August
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Jewish Community Center (JCC) Maccabi Games are coming to town Aug. 13-18.
Along with the 1,500 athletes will come another thousand parents and coaches, organizers said Tuesday at a news conference at the Shoemaker Center at the University of Cincinnati.
About 250 of the athletes will be from the Tristate.
The Olympic-style event is the largest single program in the world for Jewish teen-agers, organizers said. Cincinnati is one of five U.S. host cities for the Maccabi Games this year.
“It's a great opportunity for the region,” said Matt Ghaffari, of Cleveland, a 1996 Olympic silver medalist in wrestling.
“Cincinnati has a great chance to win the U.S. bid for the 2012 Olympics, and this is a great test to show it has the volunteer base, the great facilities and the ability to host an international, multisport event.”
Nick Vehr, chairman of the 2012 Olympic Committee here, said the opportunity for the community to come together and show an Olympic spirit is even more important than the logistics of staging the multivenue games.
“I think that is our secret weapon,” Mr. Vehr said. “It's what we can show better than any other American city. And I think that's why we are going to win (the U.S. bid).”
Participants will come from as far away as Australia, Great Britain, Israel and seven provinces in Canada, said Richard Katz, a member of both the board of directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the national JCC Association.
He said his attendance at the 1994 Maccabi Games in Columbus was a moving experience for him.
“All of the delegations paraded in to the music,” Mr. Katz said. “I got chills up and down my spine. Here comes Canton and Cleveland and Columbus and Dayton ... but no Cincinnati. I came back and said, "we've got to do this for our kids.' And that's what we're doing.”
Mr. Katz said the logistics of hosting will be a challenge.
“We're using the Shoemaker Center for the opening ceremonies and for basketball, Johnny Bench Field (at UC), new Crosley Field in Blue Ash, St. Xavier Natatorium, Crest Hills Country Club, Losantiville Country Club, and a combination of venues for track and field, and several other sites,” he said.
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