Dan L.
By Dan L.
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Culture For Jewish Marathoner, Praying Fast and Steady Wins the Race
Today’s Beijing blue sky and sunshine must have prompted Deena Kastor to sigh with relief. On Sunday (Beijing time, Saturday night in the U.S.), Kastor, a Jew from Northern California who is considered America’s best female marathoner, will compete in the women’s marathon, and having won the bronze at Athens in 2004 — the first…
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Culture Jews Sail Toward Medals in Qingdao
Jo Aleh is used to standing out from the crowd. She is the top-ranked New Zealand female in her one-woman sailing event, and number four in the world. And being the daughter of an Israeli father and Kiwi mother who made aliyah, Aleh is also the only Jewish athlete on the Kiwi Olympic team, and…
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Culture Hitting the Olympic Mat, Jewish Wrestler Finds Victory in Defeat
Yesterday, I watched Ari Taub, a 37-year-old Jewish lawyer from Canada, take on a worthy opponent and 16 years of personal demons in the 120-kilogram category Greco-Roman wrestling competition at the Chinese Agricultural University Gym. While Taub was eliminated after losing his first match 2-1, 4-1 to Mihaly Deak-Bardos of Hungary, his Sisyphean journey to…
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Culture Mocking Stereotypes for ‘Olympic’ Glory
While the world is glued to Michael Phelps’s latest athletic feats and people are still taking about Jewish wonder Jason Lezak, who on Monday swam the fastest leg in the history of the 4×100-meter Olympic freestyle relay, the closest most American Jews are to making a chlorinated splash this summer is at sleep-away camp, a…
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News Hebrew-Speaking Chinese Look West to Zion
A few months ago I got into an elevator in one of the new glass towers that dot Beijing’s Central Business District, joining two Chinese men and a foreigner for the ride down to the lobby. As we descended, the three men began talking, and for a second I thought my ears were deceiving me,…
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Culture Greatest Jewish Olympian Sulks Over Losing the Champion Spotlight
Usually it’s Jewish mothers who boast and brag about their children’s accomplishments. A big ego on a nice Jewish boy, however, is rather unbecoming. Mark Spitz — who is “considered the Greatest Olympic athlete of all-time” and “is synonymous with excellence,” according to his Web site — may be about to have his record of…
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News For the More, uh, Bookish of the Tribe, Olympic Rings Made of Bagels
It’s no surprise that Jews from Brooklyn to Berkeley get a thrill out of seeing their fellow Yids competing for and winning medals at the Olympics. In Judaism, 10 Jewish men (and women) usually form a minyan, rather than a team. So it was only a matter of time before the more irreverent of the…
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Culture Jews Swim Like Fish: Gold and Silver for U.S. and an Israeli First
Jews are making waves at Beijing’s Water Cube these days. Jewish swimmers Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale were half of the U.S. 4×100-meter freestyle men’s relay team that won the gold today, smashing records along the way. “I knew I was going to have to swim out of my mind,” [said]( (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/11/sports/0811-SWIMMINGRELAY_3.html ‘said’) anchor Lezak,…
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