By Gabe Friedman

(JTA) — There are athletes, and then there are Olympic athletes. And then there are Jewish Olympic athletes. When the 2016 Summer Olympics open Friday, we’ll of course be cheering the American athletes — all 555 of them — and we’ll be rooting for Israel, too, which this year is sending its largest ever cohort to Rio.

But we’re saving a special shout-out for some of the Jewish-American Olympians who have given the Tribe extra reasons to be proud this year. (Interestingly, Jews make up about 2 percent of the U.S. population — and by our calculations, they’re represented by nearly the same proportion on Team USA.) Here are seven Jewish American athletes we’re expecting to make waves in Brazil.

Aly Raisman (Gymnastics)

At the 2012 London Olympics, Aly Raisman quite possibly became the most popular Jewish athlete in the world when she won a floor gymnastics gold medal while performing to “Hava Nagila.” She didn’t stop there: Raisman brazenly noted the 40th anniversary of the massacre of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich games to reporters after her performance — the International Olympic Committee declined to recognize the killings by Palestinian terrorists. At 22, Raisman is nicknamed “Grandma” by her teammates (not just because of her “advanced” age — she apparently also likes to nap). Nonetheless, she was recently named team captain. We’re rooting for her to make her mark again in Rio.

Nate Ebner (Rugby)

Until a couple of weeks ago, Ebner was “only” known as one of the few Jewish players in the NFL — the 27-year-old special teams ace and safety helped the New England Patriots win the Super Bowl in 2014. But Ebner will now go down in history as the first-ever NFL player to make a U.S. Olympic team.

After being granted a leave of absence by the Patriots in May to train, Ebner — whose father was the Sunday school principal of Temple Sholom in Springfield, Ohio — made the rugby squad earlier this month. The leap didn’t appear out of nowhere: Ebner was an All-America rugby player at Ohio State and played for the U.S. National team at 17, the youngest player to do so. Rugby hasn’t been played in the Olympics since 1924, when the U.S. won a gold medal led by a Jewish player and manager, Samuel Goodman.

Anthony Ervin (Swimming)

After winning a gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2000 Olympics at age 19, Ervin felt burned out. He quit swimming in 2003, and as he details in a memoir published in April (Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian), spent his 20s experimenting with drugs, playing guitar and teaching the sport in Brooklyn. He nearly committed suicide by overdosing on the medication he takes for his Tourette syndrome. In an even more symbolic split from swimming, Ervin auctioned off his gold medal for $17,000 and donated the money to the Tsunami Relief Fund. Remarkably he made a comeback at the 2012 Olympics, placing fifth in the 50-meter freestyle. He qualified for both the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100 meter freestyle relay in Rio.

Merrill Moses (Water Polo)

Not many athletes stay in peak shape long enough to participate in an Olympics at 39. But Merrill Moses, a water polo veteran of the 2008 and 2012 Olympics — and now a member of the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame — will do just that when he celebrates his birthday in the middle of the Rio games. His secret might be his 6-foot-8-inch wingspan — or maybe it’s his confidence.

“I’ve been the best goalkeeper in the United States for 15 years,” Moses told Tribe Magazine last year. Moses will likely be in the starting lineup for his third straight Olympics. The U.S. water polo team took home a silver in 2008.

Eli Dershwitz (Fencing)

Harvard undergrad Eli Dershwitz (not to be confused with renowned Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz) is one of the best fencers in the world. Dershwitz, 20, of Sherborn, Mass. (just a few miles from Aly Raisman’s hometown of Needham), is one of only two U.S. men’s saber fencers heading to Rio. His performance at the fencing World Cup in February helped the U.S. saber team rise to a No. 1 world ranking. Look for Dershwitz, one of the youngest saber fencers in the world’s top 25, to seriously compete for a medal.

Monica Rokhman (Women’s rhythmic gymnastics)

This year marks only the second time that the U.S. women’s rhythmic gymnastics team has qualified for the Olympics; the sport has been contested at the games since 1984. A rising star in this rising sport is Monica Rokhman, 19, who grew up near San Diego and is the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Rokhman and her twin sister, Jenny, also a gymnast, have been living in Chicago’s North Shore suburbs to train. Jenny will serve as an alternate for the U.S. team. In women’s rhythmic gymnastics, five athletes perform routines with props like hoops and ribbons.
Zack Test (Rugby)

Nate Ebner isn’t the only Jewish member of the U.S. rugby team heading to Rio — he will be joined by Zack Test, 26, a standout on the men’s sevens roster. Test has played eight consecutive years of international competition. The Northern California native and Jewish day school graduate is also one of the best players on the team — he tallied the third most points and second most tackles on the squad during its 2014-15 World Rugby Sevens World Series run.

Israel’s largest-ever delegation is ready for Rio 

By Marcus Moraes

The 2016 Olympics Israel Delegation.

(JTA) – When the 2016 Olympic Games open here on Friday evening, Israel will proudly show off its largest delegation ever, with 47 athletes competing in 17 sports.

Among them are golfer Laetitia Beck, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor; Lonah Chemtai, a Kenyan-born marathoner, and Ron Darmon, the first triathlete to represent Israel at the Olympic Games.

“We are a small team compared to other countries, but we have quality and are determined,” Israeli Olympic Committee President Igal Carmi told the delegation during a meeting in Jerusalem at Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s residence on July 13 before departing to Brazil.”

One of Israel’s top Olympic hopes, rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin, will hold the Israeli flag at the opening ceremony. “On behalf of all the athletes, I can promise that we will all do our very best. We all want to bring moments of joy to the Israeli people,” she said at the meeting.

Many in the Israeli delegation will stay in Sao Paulo, the country’s largest city and home to its largest Jewish population. Although 250 miles away from the Olympic Village in Rio, Sao Paulo’s Hebraica — a massive complex that’s somewhat akin to a Jewish community center — was chosen as a pre-games training camp for the Israeli and Japanese swimming, water polo, basketball, gymnastics, handball, judo, shooting, tennis and volleyball teams.

“Half of the Israeli delegation will train at Hebraica,” said Avi Gelberg, the sports club’s president. “We are very proud as Jews to be able to be close to the Israeli athletes, help their preparation and – why not? – contribute to their achievements.”

Aside from leading the world’s largest Jewish sports club, Gelberg, who was born in Haifa, also presides over the Maccabi organization in Brazil. “Israel will be able to present itself in a positive way much beyond the conflicts,” added Gelberg, who will also serve as the Israeli delegation’s attaché.

In 16 Olympic Games, Israel has won seven medals — in judo, sailing and canoeing. The only gold medalist was windsurfer Gal Fridman (Athens, 2004), who also won a bronze medal in Atlanta in 1996.

Not even the recent news about Islamist terrorists — who have issued directives to “lone wolves” to carry out attacks against the Israeli delegation — nor the imprisonment of 12 people in Brazil who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group via social media seem to be a concern for some Israeli delegation members.

“We have no issues about security whatsoever. Not at all. We feel very safe. But we obviously cannot speak too much about it,” Danny Oren, sport director of the Israeli delegation, told JTA.

Oren and the entire delegation are looking forward to the opening ceremony on Friday night. However, they won’t be joined by Israel’s most senior official expected to attend the Games. Miri Regev, Israel’s minister of culture and sport, who is not observant, caught everyone by surprise when she announced on July 24 she won’t violate Shabbat.

“Shabbat, our national day of rest, is one of the most important gifts that Jewish people have given to the culture of humanity,” she said in a statement. “As the representative of the State of Israel, the sole Jewish state on the planet, I unfortunately cannot take part in the opening ceremony of the Olympics because it would require me to break the holy Sabbath.”

It’s not clear if she will be the only one to miss the event.

Regev, however, will attend one of the most highly anticipated moments for Israelis in Rio: A ceremony to honor the 11 Israelis killed at the 1972 Munich Olympics will be held at Rio’s City Hall on August 14. It will be co-led by the International Olympic Committee along with the Olympic committees of Israel and Brazil.

“The mayor will open the doors of his house in a gesture of great friendship with the Brazilian Jewish community and the whole people of Israel,” Israel’s honorary consul in Rio, Osias Wurman, told JTA.

At the team’s sendoff in Jerusalem, Regev spoke about countries, which she chose not to name, that do not recognize Israel and do not permit their athletes to compete against Israelis,

“Unfortunately, there are countries, even today, that exploit the Olympic Games for political gain and discriminate against Israeli athletes,” Regev lamented. “This represents the new antisemitism and we need to fight it. When you are at the fields and halls of the [Olympic] events, remember that an entire country back at home is praying for your success.”

Added Rivlin: “Your preparation has been superb, and now is the time to reap the fruit of your efforts. We believe in you and know that you can and will return home with Olympic medals.”