But a heavy fall fell on Israeli sports, after it was announced today (Sunday) about the death of the legendary broadcaster Nissim Kivithi.
Kivithi was considered the soundtrack of Israeli sports in the 70s to the 90s, with broadcasts of the Olympics, World Cups and Israeli sports and not a few beautiful and sad moments of the country.
Kivithy himself was an athlete and at the age of 20 he won the Eretz Israel Championship in the 1,500 meter race.
At the same time as he was involved in sports, he also joined the Haganah and the GNA. During the War of Independence he served as a fighter in the Givati Brigade and then continued to engage in sports at the same time as his military service, when in the Israel Championships in July 1949 he won titles in the 400 meter and 800 meter races. When he was released he decided to move to London to study engineering. Despite his studies, he did not abandon sports as he continued to train in athletics, under the Austrian Franz Stempel, one of the greatest coaches of that time.
In 1952, he was sent on behalf of the BBC to cover the Helsinki Olympics, which was the first in which Israel participated, and in 1953 he broadcast the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II, who in many days became the longest-reigning queen in history until her death in 2022.
Kivati began to gain momentum and began to work as a reporter for Israeli television in London.
Kivati broadcast the Black Olympics in Munich 1972 where he covered the massacre of the Israeli delegation and continued to broadcast the Olympics for three decades until 1988. He also broadcast the 1986 and 1990 World Cups.
In preparation for the 1990 World Cup, he broadcast Israel's important match in the World Cup qualifiers against Australia, when Eli Ohana scored what was later defined as the most important goal in the history of Israeli football, equalizing and raising the Israeli national team to the playoffs for promotion to the World Cup at the expense of the Australians, where they lost to Colombia 0:1 away, ending 0:0 at home, and again failed to qualify for the World Cup.
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In 2016, after his 90th birthday, he was hosted with his wife Ziva by the country's president, Robbie Rivlin, who told him: "You brought home to us the foundations of football, the foundations of the entire sport. We experienced the games with you and I am happy that you are here today so that I can tell you Thank you for everything you have given us and the country. You are another dear young man, I hope we can continue to enjoy your knowledge for years to come."
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