(25 July 1996; Day 6)
To an outside observer, the obstacles that Israeli fencer Lydia CZUCKERMANN-HATUEL has faced during a career which spans nearly two decades are Olympic indeed. But to the best Israeli women's fencer ever to put on a mask, it is all part of a day's work.
Political maneuvers, religious holidays, terrorist attacks and economic hardship have all tried and failed to keep the resolute 33-year-old away from the Olympic Games. And yet there she was, carrying the Israeli flag into Olympic Stadium in the Parade of Nations during the Opening Ceremonies of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta last week.
"This is the most important competition for an athlete," she said. "Everyone who does a sport, the Olympic Games is an important goal."
In this, her third and perhaps final Games, she finished 13th in individual foil and led Israel to a ninth-place showing in the team event on Friday.
Were inclusion based on athletic ability alone, CZUCKERMANN-HATUEL would be competing in her fifth Olympic Games. In 1980, at the age of 17, HATUEL (her maiden name) qualified for the Israeli team that boycotted the Games in Moscow. After finishing 23rd in individual foil competition at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, Israeli officials withdrew the women's foil team in 1988 when the day of competition fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish observances.
"I was very upset," she remembers. "Because I had worked very hard to make the team and they (Israeli officials) didn't tell me. They knew about the scheduling two years in advance. The men's team was told, but I was never told."
Back home in the small village of Acre, several hundred miles north of Jerusalem, HATUEL resumed teaching fencing at the local university. It was there she met her husband, a student and judo competitor named Robert CZUKERMANN. The two were married in 1989. Over the intervening seven years, the couple have made numerous sacrifices necessary to facilitate Lydia's continued involvement in the sport.
"Life in Israel for one who does sport is very hard," said Robert, a mechanical engineer. "You have to change all your priorities. I could have gotten a much better job if I did not have to travel to competitions and all of the other things associated with fencing."
"You do not get much support in Israel like in the developed countries. You can't live only on sport in Israel. You have to work as well."
Lydia currently works full-time as a physical education teacher in a primary school and also practices twice a day for several hours. The couple shares household duties and caring for their 2-year-old son, Idan.
"Our dream is to own a house," said Robert, who lives with his wife and son in a small apartment. ``It is difficult financially."
Despite the difficulties which face them, the couple have no intention of relocating any time in the immediate future.
"When you live in a place, you acclimate to the place and you learn to love the good things about a place," Robert said.
The youngest of 10 children, Lydia has turned down several offers to come to the United States and attend college on a fencing scholarship. One of her brothers, Haim HATUEL, is the Israeli national coach.
"If I had come to the U.S., I could have only benefited," she said. "But it's very difficult for me to leave Israel and my family. I have a sister near Philadelphia, but I could not leave my mother and brothers."
She does travel abroad for competition, but not without precaution. As just a young girl, she learned of reports that 11 Israeli athletes and delegation members had been killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. One of those was Israeli fencing coach Andrey SHPIZER, whom Lydia had known personally.
Despite that tragedy and others like it which have occurred far too often in her homeland, Lydia says fear is not part of her makeup. She said she is enjoying her stay at the Olympic Village in Atlanta and is confident Games organizers and law enforcement officials have taken necessary precautions.
"Since then we have very heavy security," she said. "I'm not afraid, but I'm paying attention. If Israeli security is with us, we're in good hands."
When she returns to Israel after the Games, she realizes that she will return to a land where the harsh realities of war loom as a dark shadow on even the brightest of days. But obstacles or threats have never slowed her before.
"We can't stay inside and be afraid all of the time," she explained. "We must continue living. This is their (attackers) purpose: to make us afraid. If they get it, they are winning and we cannot allow that."
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Mark Vinson.
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| The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts. |