Host city | Jerusalem, Israel |
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Nations | 49 |
Debuting countries | Azerbaijan China Moldova Chinese Taipei |
Athletes | 3,300 |
Events | 38 |
Opening | July 16, 2001 |
Closing | July 23, 2001 |
Opened by | Keren Leibovitch |
Main venue | Teddy Stadium |
The 16th Maccabiah Games (Hebrew: המכביה ה16 ישראל תשס"א), the Opening Ceremony was held in Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium, while the re-building process of the collapsed bridge and investigations into the collapse continued. The 16th Maccabiah attracted more than 5,000 athletes from 46 countries.
It is considered a 'smaller games' for three reasons: attendance was significantly lower, particularly from the Australians (who sent only about 170 athletes, compared with around 400 in 1997); it was run at the height of the Second Intifada (and straight after the infamous Dolphinarium bombing—the largest of the Intifada—that killed 21 Israelis, mostly high school students); and not all wounds had been healed after the collapse of the bridge.