Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko this evening will represent Israel in the world finals of the triple jump. Knyazyeva is one of the best jumpers in the world, and chances are strong are that in the next few years she will win several medals for Israel in important international competitions.
Knyazyeva is not Jewish by birth and she did not immigrate to Israel out of Zionist motives. She simply married an Israeli and the couple prefers to be Israeli rather than Ukrainian. This all happened in a spirit of goodwill, with the Ukrainian Athletic Association letting go of one of its best athletes -- something that cannot be taken for granted. To train an athlete on Knyazyeva's level is neither cheap nor easy, and has only grown more expensive in recent years.
In soccer, we see Brazilians and Africans representing various countries. Sometimes, as with Knyazyeva, it is due to life circumstances -- love or immigration. But in championships like the one currently taking place in Moscow, we see athletes that were purchased outright, mainly by Gulf countries. They acquire African runners and we are not just talking about adults: About a year ago I encountered a 6-year-old Serbian girl -- a one-of-a-kind tennis prodigy -- whose family received a tempting financial offer to become citizens of Bahrain.
In Israel, situations like that of Knyazyeva still raise the issue of patriotism, national identity and Jewishness, and various and sundry other questions related to the immigrant athlete. There is one exception: if the athlete is a basketball player who represents Maccabi Tel Aviv, it does not matter if his conversion was crooked or if he received his citizenship through a fictitious marriage. All this, when totally bona fide Jews in Maccabi Tel Aviv left Israel shortly after the post-game shower of the final season game.
An athlete like Knyazyeva, you may be surprised to hear, actually pays a price for representing Israel. She arrived in a country where sports are in a dire state. Israel may be able to pay her salary, but it cannot provide her with a competitive environment or the commercial sponsorship opportunities she would get elsewhere.
An athlete on Knyazyeva's level, for instance, could approach the nearest Australian embassy, prove that she is one of the top ten in her sport, and receive citizenship with athletic and financial perks that an Israeli athlete can only dream of.
So without sarcasm, she is doing us a favor by representing us. Thank you and good luck.
The sore point in Knyazyeva's story is not actually her religion. It is that an athlete on her level exposes the sorry state of Israeli sports across the board, and her immigration to Israel underscores the fact that a generation has passed since we had an athlete on a international level. The previous one, gymnast Alex Averbuch, was a product of the Russian sports system. Averbuch happened to be Jewish, so his achievements belie the excuses concerning a Jewish genetic deficiency in sports.
What is sad in most of these instances is that instead of learning from athletes like Knyazyeva or Averbuch about how to scout them cultivate their talents and help them rise, we waste precious time discussing their national identity.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו