Maccabiah sports are official

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

s contested at the

Maccabiah The Maccabiah Games (, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics") is an international multi-sport event with summer and winter sports competitions featuring Jews and Israelis regardless of religion ...

by the International Maccabiah Committee (IMC). Recent Maccabiah games included over 40 different sports.

Structure

Within the Maccabiah, four separate competitions take place: Junior, Masters, Open, and Paralympics. Junior games are open to any qualifying athlete of age 15 to 18 (depending on the event, as young as 13 years old might be able to qualify). The Masters games are designed for the older athletes from each deletion. Within the Masters games there are separate age classes. The open division is intended for the best athletes from each delegation and as such subject to the rules of the international governing body of that sport. The Maccabiah also hosts a paralympics division which hosts various paralympic and wheelchair sports. The

paralympic swimming Para swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Para swimmers compete at the Summer Paralympic Games and at other sports competitions throughout the world. The sport is governed by the International Paral ...

competitions at the Maccabiah cover all

swimming stroke Human swimming typically consists of repeating a specific body motion or swimming stroke to propel the body forward. There are many kinds of strokes, each defining a different swimming style or crawl. In high school, collegiate, and Olympic swim ...

in the 50-meter and 100-meter events. The Maccabiah typically hosts a

para table tennis Para table tennis is a parasports which follows the rules set by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The usual table tennis rules are in effect with slight modifications for wheelchair athletes. Athletes from disability groups can ...

competition which includes both paralympic standing and a paralympic wheelchair category. The Maccabiah also hosts other events such as the

para-cycling Para-cycling (or paracycling/para cycling) is the sport of cycling (sport), cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disability, disabilities. It is governed by the (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which include Road bicy ...

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

, and paralympics

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

Overview

Swimming

Swimming has been part of the Maccabiah since the first Maccabiah in 1932. Additionally, the Maccabiah games include open water competitions of 1,500 and 5,000 meters. Swimming competitions are conducted according to the rules of the

International Swimming Federation World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. It is one of several international federations whi ...

(FINA).

Squash

Squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

became an official sport in the 10th Maccabiah Games in 1977. The competition was held at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, which had two courts that were covered by a tin roof and open to the air. That year, the United States team consisted of the top Jewish hardball squash players in the country. The team was led by Glenn Whitman, former captain and number one player at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Other players included Len Bernheimer, a top ranked amateur who previously played in college at Williams, Roger Alcaly, and Bill Kaplan, captain of Harvard's varsity squash team.

Ice hockey

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

entered the Maccabiah in 1997 with Canada winning the gold medal. The United States team was able to secure a silver place position. Ice hockey was not included in subsequent games but returned in 2013 as part of the 19th Maccabiah. The countries represented in three divisions were Canada, Israel, Russia, Ukraine and the USA. Canada won the Gold Medal in the Open Division after crushing USA 7-1. Canada also won the Gold Medal in the Juniors Division defeating USA 3-2. USA, however got some payback in the Masters Division as they defeated Canada 7-4, winning USA's first ever Gold Medal in Maccabiah Ice Hockey history.

Chess

Chess has been recognized as a sport and was included in the

2nd Maccabiah The 2nd Maccabiah (), aka the Aliyah Olympics, which was held in April 1935, was the second edition of the Maccabiah Games. The Games were held despite official opposition by the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandatory government. A total of 28 coun ...

. During the 50s and 60s chess disappeared from the games. Chess was renewed at the 10th Maccabiah in 1977 and has grown considerably ever since. In the 17th Maccabiah, a Super-Tournament took place.

Maccabiah programs

A check (✔) denotes the program took place in that edition of the Maccabiah. An X mark (✘) denotes the games were not available for that specified edition of the Maccabiah. A

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

() denotes the program was available, however for one or more reasons the competition did not take place (typically due to insufficient amount of delegations).

References

{{Maccabiah Games

Sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...