LONDON When you arrive at the O2 Olympic arena, on the bank of the Thames, there are many distractions. The arena is impressive, there are huge musical events, among other things, and the hall appears to be much bigger than its official capacity of 20,000 spectators. The crowd that arrived on Saturday was welcomed with deafening pop music and scenery of pink and blue, the official colors of the London Olympics. The wonderful Israeli gymnast Alexander Shatilov, however, was not distracted on Saturday. After an impressive showing in the qualifying round, Shatilov advanced to the finals in floor exercises and in the men's all-around, demonstrating once again why he is inarguably the top athlete in the Israeli delegation. His qualifying round alone was seen by 15,000 spectators at the arena. Despite the immense pressure on him to bring home a medal, the 25-year-old Shatilov gave a magnificent performance in the qualifying round. His performance was clean, infused with much more self-assurance than in the past, and punctuated with satisfied smiles, indicating that Shatilov was more focused than ever. The Israeli athlete received the excellent score of 15.633 on the floor and amassed a total of 89.032 points in all six events, on his way to being among the top 24 in the all-around competition and among the eight who will compete for a medal in his strongest event, the floor exercises. "I am very pleased with my performance, but I still have a lot to work on," Shatilov said upon completing his event. "Obviously I have a good shot at a medal, but everyone who has made it to this level is equally good, more or less. Why did I smile a lot? I was very happy with my exercises." Now all that is left is to see if there is a big smile after the final next Sunday. Shatilov's teammate, Felix Aronovich, gave a decent first-time Olympics performance and finished 32nd. He was ranked among the alternates who will participate in the finals in the event that more than one member of the same team advances to the finals and cannot compete. Israel's swimmers had a disappointing outcome. Gal Nevo swam the 400-meter individual medley his strongest event in 04:14:77 minutes, ranking in the respectable 10th place, but failing to qualify for the final. "This is my best time in the post-[enhanced ability] swimsuit era, but it wasn't enough for a medal," Nevo concluded after the competition. Nevo was the highest ranking Israeli swimmer since Eitan Orbach ranked eighth in Sydney in 2000. Amit Ivri finished 18th in the 100-meter butterfly competition, two spots (or .02 of a second) away from advancing to the semi-final. "I'm leaving with a good feeling," she said. "This is my first time in the Olympics. I'll try to improve in the 200-meter medley." Imri Ganiel swam the 100-meter breast heat in 01:02:07 minutes the best time of his career and finished 32nd of 44 competitors. In judo, Israel's Tommy Arshansky gave an impressive performance, but was defeated in the early rounds. The 20-year-old judoka opened with a victory over the bronze medalist in the most recent European Championship, Jeroen Mooren from the Netherlands, but was defeated in the second round by Japanese judoka Hiroaki Hiraoka, who went on to win the silver medal. Misha Zilberman, Israel's first-ever Olympic representative in the sport of badminton, lost his first match.
Only a win over his Singaporean rival on Sunday will keep him in the competition.
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