Swimmer Toumarkin makes it to finals

Swimmer Yakov Toumarkin came in fifth in the 200m backstroke semi-final, stopping the clock at 1:57.33 seconds on Wednesday evening. The result was enough to let him narrowly qualify for the final round, ranked in eighth place. Toumarkin is only the second Israeli swimmer to ever make it to an Olympic final.

Earlier in the day he set a new Israeli record in the 200 meter backstroke with the same time. The 20-year-old swimmer finished his first round heat in third place, placing him in eighth place of the general rankings and pushing him through to the semifinals.

Toumarkin was the second Israeli to set a new national record in London, after Amit Ivri set a new Israeli record in the women’s 200 meter personal medley on Monday.

Team member Gal Nevo failed to match Toumarkin’s achievement, completing his Olympic quest at the semi-final stage of the 200 meter medley, clocking 1:59.17 seconds.

Alex Shatilov came in 12th at the men’s all around gymnastic finals on Wednesday evening, shortly after Tennis players Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich advanced to the quarter finals in London.

Shatilov received a mark of 14.266 on the Pommel Horse, and then 14.200 on the Rings. The judges awarded the Israeli gymnast a score of 15.133 in the Vault. On the Parallel Bars Shatilov received 14.400 points, and 14.833 on the Horizontal Bar.

The total of 88.432 was no match for Kohei Uchimura’s score of 92.690, which gave the Japanese gymnast the gold.

Shatilov was the first Israeli to reach the finals in Olympic gymnastics at the Beijing Games four years ago. On Sunday evening he’ll try to win Israel’s first ever Olympic medal in his strong discipline, the floor exercise.

Ram and Erlich beat the Swiss duo of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 2-1. The Israeli duo fought back after they dropped the first set 6-1, won the second 7-6 and the third 6-3. Federer is currently number one in world ranking, after winning the prestigious Wimbeldon grand slam last month. He and Wawrinka won the Gold in Beijing four years ago

In the quarterfinals they’ll meet the Bryan brothers from the US.

Gal Nevo swam the 200 meter personal medley, finishing his heat in fifth place and advancing to the semifinals from the 12th overall spot with a time of 1.59.56 minutes.

The semifinals for both swimmers was to be held on Wednesday night.

Windsurfer Shahar Tzuberi finished his first race Wednesday in 17th place, and his second in 10th place. After four races Tzuberi, one of Israel’s biggest medal hopes, was in the 10th overall place.

Israel’s top female windsurfer and current world champion Lee Korzits finished her third race in seventh place, dropping her from first to second in the general standings. She regained form in the fourth race, finishing in second place and further securing her place at the top.

Nofar Edelman finished her third day of races on the Laser Radial in the 30th overall place. The sailor came in 29th in her fifth race and surprised everyone when she placed third in the sixth race of the Games.