The Maccabiah Games are quadrennial Jewish Olympics. It is held every four years in Israel the year following the Olympic Games. At every session of the game, the best Jewish athletes from throughout the world compete in all categories of Open, Masters, Juniors, and Disabled competitions. Ancient Olympic Games, gaming info website has searched out the various events of these games and has presented before you.
The Maccabiah is staged under the patronage of the Maccabi World Union (MWU), a youth and sports organization from all over the world which is devoted to the Jewish identity and traditions through cultural, social, and educational activities. The headquarter of MWU is in Israel.
The conception of the Maccabiah Games was the innovation of Yosef Yekutieli, a 15-year old Russian-born. His teenager was so keyed up by news of the 1912 Olympic Games that he conceived the far-fetched notion of a worldwide Olympics for Jewish athletes in Palestine. With little back-up, Yekutieli strive for the next ten years developing details of his unique idea.
The Games were held at first on March 28, 1932, and a large number of more than 400 athletes took part. Athletics, football, and swimming were held. The 2nd edition of Maccabiah Games was held in April 1935, and the number of participated athletes increased to 1,350.
The 2005 Maccabiah Games had successfully attracted the largest attendance of any Maccabiah Games until now. There were more than 900 representatives from the United States, 500 from Australia and more than 2,000 from Israel. Israel was at the top of the medal count with 227 gold medals.
The 2009 Maccabiah Games is the 18th incarnation of the games, will be held in the month of July. On the 13th of July, it is expected that more than 5,000 Jewish athletes from all over the world will unite Team Israel's 2,000 participants at Ramat Gan Stadium for the opening ceremony.