"Just sensational"

Berlin's Maccabi Games have met all expectations of participants as well as spectators.

Berlin (dpa) - Organizers of the 14th European Maccabi Games are overjoyed with the success of the eight-day Jewish sports event in Berlin. "It was just sensational," Alon Meyer, president of Maccabi Germany, told dpa on Tuesday. "The scope, the surroundings and the possibilities for sports have met all expectations - for us it was a summer fairytale," Meyer added.

The Games were hosted in Germany for the first time and many events took place at the Berlin Olympic Park, where the Nazis held the 1936 Olympics before going on to commit the Holocaust against the Jews. The symbolism added to the flavour of the Maccabi Games with the only negative being anti-Semitic bullying against six participants and two security guards on Friday. "That was not good, that was a shame. But similar incidents can happen even at a non-Jewish event in a big city like Berlin," added Meyer. Some 2,300 competitors across a range of sports from 38 countries have taken part in the showpiece, which concludes on Tuesday with a closing ceremony at Berlin's mammoth Estrel Hotel.

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