As retold by Bruce Lowitt

It seems Israel had the fastest downhill skier in the world. He was the favorite to collect Israel's first gold medal of the Winter Olympics.

In the slalom final, the first skier, from France, completed the 30 gates in 1 minute, 41.34 seconds. An Italian was next, and he was timed in 1:42.29, then the Swiss skier took the lead with a time of 1:40.47.

The Israeli was next and the crowd waited in anticipation for him to complete the course.

And waited. And waited.

Finally he crossed the finish line in 7 minutes, 56.35 seconds.

"What happened?" his trainer screamed at the exhausted skier.

"What happened?" he replied. "Find the guy who put a mezuzah on each gate!"