Israeli Shooting

The Telegraph

By Alison Klayman · August 15, 2008

This post's title might be alarmist considering I am blogging about Olympic competition, not an act of violence. Still, I find myself just a bit alarmed that Israeli shooters are not the sharpest in the world.

I think Jews, outside of Israel at least, like to mythologize the IDF and Israeli military prowess. Yet off the battlefield today, the Ukraine (gold), United States (silver) and Norway (bronze) showed they can wield a rifle better.

Then again, does the IDF even use rifles?

Israelis Guy Starik and Gil Simkovich both competed in the Men's 50m Rifle Prone qualification round, but neither finished in the top eight to reach the final.

Starik came in 12th with a score of 594, while Simkovich came in 22nd at 592 (many competitors tied with the same scores). Starik improved upon his Athens finish of 16th, and is one of two Israelis to be competing in his fourth Olympics.

Simkovich will also participate in the Men's 50m Rifle 50m 3 Positions event on August 17, joined by fellow Israeli Doron Egozi, who already competed in the Men's 10m Air Rifle Qualification and finished 41st in the qualification round.