San Diego, CA (special)-- Now that the 16th Maccabiah games in Israel are over, swimmer Ben Weston of the La Jolla section of San Diego has another test of athletic prowess awaiting him: proving to all us hometown folks that he can wear all seven medals he won without being staggered by their collective weight.

Weston brings home a gold medal for the 1500-meter freestyle event, a silver medal for the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 meter freestyle relays, and four bronze medals.  They are for the 100-meter, 200-meter and 300-meter freestyle events, and for the 400-meter breaststroke.

The swimmer easily was the San Diego area's most prolific medallist at the Maccabiah games, held at various locales in Israel July 16-23.

Another outstanding effort by a San Diegan came in the karate competitions, in which Ophira Bergman collected a gold medal in the 60-kilogram class; a silver medal in the team kata competition; another silver medal in the team kumite competition and a bronze in the individual kata category.

In Master's Tennis, Harold Krasner had a jewel of an outing, garnering silver medals in the singles competition for the over-50 age group, and for doubles competition in the over 45-age group.

His niece, Lindy First, a sophomore at George Washington University, took a bronze  medal in the women's doubles division of the open tennis.  Krasner and First had practiced together before flying to Israel for the games.  They set aside their concerns about threats of terrorism by Palestinian Arabs.

Krasner told HERITAGE that he had participated in the 1997 Maccabiah games, which had been marred by the collapse of a bridge during opening ceremonies, resulting in four Australian athletes being killed.  This year, he said, the opening ceremonies went off without a hitch, and a memorial for the four Australians was quite moving. 

Bringing home gold medals to San Diego were  Ken Lentin, for beach volleyball;  Avi Fogel, as a member of the American junior basketball squad, and Rachel-Rose Cohen as a member of the American junior girl's soccer team.

Dan Neiman won a silver medal as part of the American men's volleyball team, as well as a bronze medal in beach volleyball.  Neiman' teammate in beach volleyball was another San Diegan, Dis Abelman.  Yet another San Diegan, Edan Wernik,  played with Neiman on the silver-medal winning men's volleyball team

Other San Diego medallists included Guy Rotan, whose team won the silver medal in rugby, and twins Michal Hose and Yael Hose whose team took bronze medals in field hockey. 
 

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Amateur Jewish athletic attention now is being turned to Philadelphia where 50 teens from the San Diego area will compete in the JCC Maccabi games Aug. 19-24. They will be among an estimated 6,500 participants drawn from all over the world.

"It is truly a life-changing experience for these kids," comments Ruthi Warburg, chair of the JCC Maccabi games for San Diego County.  

Besides the thrill of competition, the teens will enjoy the satisfaction of performing a good deed: an entire day of working on various community projects has been programmed into the San Diego delegation's day.  Team members will stay in the homes of host families, with whom they will take field trips.