(JTA) — The creative director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony has been fired after a Holocaust joke he made during a 1990s comedy skit drew attention this week. Kentaro Kobayashi, a popular comedian and actor, joked during a television appearance in the 1990s, “Let’s play the genocide of the Jews,” according to a video…
The modern Olympic games, first held in Athens in the summer of 1896, predate the Forward’s founding by less than one year. In the 52 winter and summer games to take place since, the Jewish stories have ranged from tales of perseverance and success, as in the victories of Jewish athletes like Mark Spitz and…
As a 10-year-old boy, in 1967, Peter Kurz fell in love with Israel during a two-month trip to visit family. Two years later, the New York Mets won the World Series and fostered a love of baseball for the New York native. Who would’ve thought that more than 50 years later, Kurz would combine those…
(JTA) — Jewish basketball star Sue Bird will be one of Team USA’s two flag bearers at the Tokyo Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday. Bird, one of many Jewish athletes going for gold this summer, will be competing in her fifth Olympic games this summer. The 12-time WNBA All-Star has won gold at the last…
(JTA) — Will it be a historic Olympics for Israel? The Associated Press thinks so. On its list of predicted medalists for each event in Tokyo published Monday, the news agency includes seven Israeli athletes. The Jewish state has won nine medals in its entire Olympics history. This year, Israel is sending its largest delegation…
TEL AVIV (JTA) — When he immigrated to Israel from his native Ukraine in the early 1990s, judo master Igor Romanitsky was already resigned to quitting the sport professionally and pursuing a medical career. “Israel wasn’t known for its judo scene back then, and I had a medical degree,” Romanitsky, now 57, told the Jewish…
Blake Gailen didn’t always have the strongest connection to Israel. But now, the outfielder’s journey has him set to represent the country in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Gailen’s love of baseball came from his parents, who were avid fans of the sport and turned their son onto the game at the age of three. He…
As Israel’s Olympic baseball team makes its way to Tokyo, they might capture more hearts here in America than back home. After all, it feels like there are more baseball diamonds in my town of Maple Glen, Penn., than there are in the entire country of Israel. But while baseball may not be at the…
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