BEIJING (AP) 鈥� Israeli skier Barnabas Szollos was happy to have the No. 1 bib so he could get a chance to sit in the leader鈥檚 box after the downhill run of the Alpine combined at the Beijing Olympics.
He thought his moment in the spotlight would end there.
When he followed his 11th-place finish in the downhill with the second-best slalom time and wound up an unexpected sixth, he had achieved Israel鈥檚 best-ever individual result at the Winter Games.
鈥淭his,鈥� Szollos said, 鈥渋s more than I expected.鈥�
With taking part in the race, Szollos finished only 1.75 seconds behind .
quipped: 鈥淔or a country where most people ski on sand, 6th place is pretty good. Mazal Tov champion!鈥�
Szollos was born in Hungary and raised in Austria but gained Israeli citizenship through his father, who used to coach the national team. He and his two siblings 鈥� his sister Noa is also competing in Beijing 鈥� have Israeli passports.
He鈥檚 been to Israel only twice.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a nice country (but) for me it鈥檚 a bit too hot,鈥� Szollos said. 鈥淵ou know when you live all the time in Austria and it鈥檚 cold, you prefer the cold.鈥�
Szollos was not raised Jewish and does not understand Hebrew.
鈥淚 speak Hungarian, German and English but not Hebrew yet,鈥� he said.
Israelis can ski at Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights but Szollos has not skied there yet.
鈥淚t鈥檚 much better,鈥� he said, 鈥渢o ski in Austria.鈥�
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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press
