Word: fridman
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...Fridman promised his girlfriend that if she came to Athens to watch him compete in the Olympic windsurfing regatta, she'd get to hear the Israeli anthem at the medals ceremony. Last week, he kept his promise?and fulfilled Israel's long-unfulfilled hopes of Olympic glory. Fridman sailed to victory in waters as blue as the Star of David on his country's flag, winning Israel's first-ever Olympic gold. "It is," he said, over and over, "a dream come true for the whole country...
...Fridman, 28, had not been favored to write the new, golden chapter to his country's somber Olympic history. He'd won a bronze in Atlanta, then failed to qualify for Sydney and quit the sport. But early retirement was not an ending the "sportaholic" could stomach, even if his stoic demeanor hid it, says his longtime girlfriend, Michal Peleg. "He doesn't like to lose. At anything. You know the saying ?the calm before the storm'? That's him - and there is a storm." It stirred in 2002, when Fridman came back to the sport and won the world...
...have good confidence in my skills," Fridman says, and it showed out on the water. In second place going into the 11th and final race, he had racked up enough points to secure a medal, but needed some alchemy - or at least some wiles - to turn it gold. When regatta leader Ricardo Santos of Brazil latched onto him at the start, says Fridman, "I decided to take him where the wind was not the strongest." It was a winning move: Santos faded with the wind and couldn't keep up, whereas Fridman muscled back into a better position. "When...
...Fridman spoke out for peace after collecting his medal, saying, "If you want to fight someone, fight in sports." But he doesn't want to talk politics. His decision to dedicate his win to the Munich dead was emotional, patriotic, but not political. "As an athlete," he says, "I don't think that should be the focus at all." Asked about Fridman's win, the Palestinians, too, tried to steer clear of politics?and only partially succeeded. Team leader Akram Zaher praised the Israeli's achievement: "He worked hard to get his medal. I just ask his government, to give...
...certain perverse sense, I hope this may lead to more community spirit in the House," said Leonid Fridman '85, who is a resident math tutor...