Bar-Or has long been regarded as the future of Israeli swimming and the Beijing Games should be the first of many Olympics for him.
By ALLON SINAI
To say Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or booked his place at the Beijing Games at the last moment is an understatement. Shapira was added to the Israeli delegation on Thursday, just eight days before the start of the Olympics.
The 19-year-old had initially fallen four hundredths of a second short of the criteria time in the 200 meter freestyle and it seemed he would have to wait four years to make his Olympic debut in London.
The High Court of the Olympic Committee of Israel decided, however, that Bar-Or's national record of 1:48.76 minutes, which he set in Croatia two weeks ago, is good enough as he never had the chance to request to be selected as one of the three youngsters in the delegation because the now suspended Max Jaben had initially been Israel's representative to the Games in the 200m free.
Bar-Or has long been regarded as the future of Israeli swimming and the Beijing Games should be the first of many Olympics for him. A place in the Olympic semis is, nevertheless, within his reach next week, assuming of course he sets a new national record.
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