'I don't understand her reaction'
Israeli Olympics medal winner Arik Zeevi talks about world champion Daniela Krakower's attitude after her loss at Maccabiah
TEL AVIV - Even though the Maccabiah did not showcase my athletic capability, I am very pleased with my results in the competition. Less than two months before the World Championship in Cairo, I feel like I am on the right track.
I am leaving for training camp in the Netherlands next week and then to the preparatory competition in Germany. In the last weeks before the championship I will train in Israel with practice opponents from abroad, which hopefully will be enough to get the gold in Egypt.
The Maccabiah results were pretty predictable, except one big surprise weighing 63 kilograms (139 pounds). Alice Schlesinger, the 17-year-old Israeli, defeated the world champion, former Israeli Daniella Krakower.
Without talking about the question of whether it was a judgment error, the fact that Alice's performance was equal to the performance of one of the best Judokas in the world tells about her great potential; it is an optimistic development for Beijing.
The fact that the competition was very close and sometimes even in Schlesinger's control should bring up several question marks for Krakower, considering the nearing World Championship. To keep her title she would have to be much better than she was this week in Israel. Defeating Schlesinger would not change this fact.
I do not understand Krakower's behavior after the competition. Errors of judgment in are not uncommon in judo, including such errors in favor of a local athlete. It is annoying, but it is part of the deal. An athlete, especially one on Krakower's level, has to know how to take the loss in such cases. Protest never changed a judge's decision.
It did not seem proper for a world champion with a magnificent record who sets an example for other young judokas to behave this way in front of the big audience that came to watch her. She had to be nice to Alice for the challenge she gave her. Alice deserves it, and Daniella would have come out a bigger person.
The loss will do good for Krakower, and it will make her fight for the gold in Cairo. Either way, I think that in the World Championship Krakower will be completely Israeli.
