The Maccabiah Games are the Jewish Olympics. This game took place every four years in Israel the year next to the Olympic Games. In almost all the sessions, the best athletes from Jew residing all over the world join the event and participate in all categories of Open, Masters, Juniors, and Disabled competition. We at Ancient Olympic Games work for providing basic information about the major international games played across the world.
The Maccabiah Game is staged under the administration of the Maccabi World Union (MWU). It is a youth and sports organization from all over the world framed in honor to devote the Jewish individuality and traditions through cultural, social, and educational activities. The headquarter of MWU is situated in Israel.
The main idea behind the celebration of the Maccabiah Games was the innovation of Yosef Yekutieli, a 15-year old Russian-born. He was very much motivated by the news of the 1912 Olympic Games that he considered the unbelievable notion of a worldwide Olympics for Jewish athletes in Palestine. Getting few support, Yekutieli work hard to achieve his plan persistently for the next ten years developing the details of his exceptional scheme.
The first Game of Maccabiah was held on March 28, 1932. The game was joined up by a large number of competitors of more than 400 athletes who took part marked their success. Among the various games that were played, there were athletics, football, and swimming. The 2nd Maccabiah Games took place in April 1935 with an increased number of participated athletes of 1,350.
The 2005 Maccabiah Games attracted the largest attendance. There were over 900 representatives from the United States, 500 from Australia and more than 2,000 from Israel. Israel ranked top at the medal tally with 227 gold medals.
The 2009 Maccabiah Games is the 18th session of the games which will be held on 13th of July. It is projected that more than 5,000 Jewish athletes from all over the world will come and join Team Israel's 2,000 participants at Ramat Gan Stadium for the opening ceremony.