Not By Brains Alone

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Through the ages, Jews have established a reputation as being brainy. Look at the Nobel Prize winners; Jews are overrepresented as a group.

BUT Jews have accomplished great feats in athletics, too. Just look at all the Jews involved in modern professional and amateur sports today – Jews who don’t feel the need to hide their Jewishness, be it religious or cultural.

Jewish fathers – and mothers – of yesteryear may have looked askance at their sons who chose athletics over academics, but many of those athletic pioneers set out to prove that Jews weren’t wimps.

As the Olympic Games are about to begin in Paris, it’s interesting to note that Jews have made their mark in the sports event revitalized in 1896  with the intent to bring athletes together and show international cooperation.

Unfortunately, many Jewish athletes had to battle more than just their families. Often there were strong anti-Jewish efforts to either exclude Jewish athletes or diminish their accomplishments.

Jews were often forced to open separate athletics clubs and training centers and competition between Jews and non-Jews could be fierce.

Nazi Germany refused to allow Jewish athletes to compete in the infamous 1936 Olympic games although one “half Jew” did compete. Even some non-German Jewish athletes were not permitted to compete including Americans Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller who had to sit out the race. Ironically, that’s the race that African American Jesse Owens won.
Read more: https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/olympics/?content=jewish_athletes_more

Jews won 4 medals in the first modern Olympics in 1896. The first American Jew to win a medal was Meyer Prinstein in long jumping.

Tiny Israel has won 13 medals; Jewish athletes ( both self-identified and by halachach) have won 459 medals between 1896 and 2021.

In swimming  American Dana Torres has won 12 medals and  American  Mark Spitz has won 11 medals. Gymnast Agnes Koliti of Hungary, a Holocaust survivor, was awarded 11 medals having begun training again after World War II.

Though a bit dated, this article about Jews in fencing illustrates the trajectory of Jewish involvement in that sport:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/when-jews-ruled-the-fencing-world

This Jewish Women’s Archive link focuses on some women prominent in past Olympics: https://jwa.org/discover/infocus/olympics

For further sports reading, check out these books in the Lampert Library:

Jewish Jocks: an unorthodox hall of fame (920)

Bachrach, Susan, The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 (YA940.46)

Catarevas, Eve, Rena Glickman, queen of judo. (JBIOG)

Century, Douglas, Barney Ross (BIOG) 

Dostis, Isaac, Ten Gold Medals: glory or freedom. (JFIC)

Dublin, Anne, Bobbie Rosenfeld (YABIOG)

Hoffman, Amalia, The Brave cyclist: the true story of a Holocaust hero (J940.44)

McDonough, Yona, The Bicycle Spy (JFIC)

Mogulof, Milly, Foiled, Hitler’s Jewish Olympian. (BIOG)

Siegman, Joseph, Jewish Sports Legends (920)

Slater, Robert, Great Jews in Sports. (920)

Additionally, these books about Jews in sports can be found in the BCCLS library system:

Bascomb, Neal, Faster. how a Jewish driver, an American heiress, and a legendary car beat Hitler’s best. (796)

Bodner, Allen, When Boxing was a Jewish sport

Gurock, Jeffrey, Marty Glickman: the life of an American Jewish sports legend

Stark, Douglas, When Basketball was Jewish: voices of those who played the game.

Finally, if you have never read The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their epic quest for gold in the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel Brown, now is the time to read this exemplary book of narrative non-fiction. Even if you are not a sports fan, the story of the underdog team will keep you reading and rooting. There is also a recent film (796.48).

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