Comments on: Israel’s Drone, Britain’s Passport Worries, & Israeli Ice Dancing

By: Very Bright

Very Bright — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:17:02 +0000

My favorite Olympic name is Torah Bright even though she is an Aussie Mormon snowboarder. Her parents named her Torah after her mother learned the word meant “bearer of great message” in addition to referring to the five books of Moses. She carried the Aussie flag in the 2010 Vancouver opening ceremonies and won the Gold Medal in the Women’s Halfpipe.

By: Jenna Mitelman

Jenna Mitelman — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:40:36 +0000

I don’t know – I definitely very much enjoyed their routines; even their compulsory tango, which is a tough dance to do for a sibling couple. But I suppose there’s no accounting for taste in these matters.

You’re absolutely right that many of the top international teams train in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut (including many of the Russian teams, who certainly have plenty of ice back home). Many of the top international-level coaches live in the States, and the American skating arenas tend to provide better training conditions than many other countries. In this case though, the Zaretskys have moved to train in the US relatively recently, mostly after having risen to the international level competitively, having trained for most of their lives in Metullah (at Israel’s ONLY competition-size skating rink), including during Roman’s IDF service a couple of years ago (many athletes get excused from compulsory army service, but in this case, Roman chose to serve, and keep training alongside his service).

By: ML

ML — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:53:37 +0000

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that impressed with the Israeli ice dancers. Compared to some of the other groups, they seemed a bit slow and not synchronized at key moments. I did love the “costumes” though!

And Israel’s “barely any ice” might be why they primarily train in New Jersey. But many others do too. I have both skated and gone sledding in Israel. Everyone should!