Monday, August 13, 2012

Aly Raisman

At Shabbat on Friday night, Rabbi Offner spoke about an Olympic athlete, Aly Raisman.

(image from Mercury News)

As you may know, Aly Raisman is a member of the US Women's Gymnastics Team and earned three medals, two golds and a bronze.  Aly is a talented Jewish athlete that had a desire to express her Jewishness along with her amazing skills.  Below you can watch her floor routine set to "Hava Nagila" from a gymnastics competition.  The Olympic video isn't available, but this is the same floor routine that she performed in the Olympics...  AND WON GOLD!  (The first American woman to do so!)





From the Jerusalem Post:
When asked why she chose to perform to “Hava Nagila,” she said she was proud to be Jewish and she wanted to represent her heritage at the Olympics. She said that while she did not choose the song in honor of the 11 Israeli sportsmen who were murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972, she dedicated her medals to them and she would have stood for a moment of silence in their memory had the International Olympic Committee accepted requests for such a gesture.
Aly and her family are planning a trip to Israel to celebrate her win!


(From ShalomLife)

Congratulations Aly!!!!  To read about other Jewish Athletes from the 2012 Summer Olympics, take a look at these articles Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Who is your favorite Jewish Olympian?



-Minahelet Kahrimanis