“A failure to win a medal will be a disappointment,” says Lustig, the director of Israel’s Elite Sport Department, the division set up in 1984 to oversee the selection of athletes for the Olympics.

“I hope we claim between one or two medals and reach between six and eight finals.

“It is, however, much tougher to take a medal these days. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, for example, 80 different countries claimed medals, while in the 2004 Athens Olympics only 75 countries won medals.”

Zinger, the secretary general of the Olympic Committee of Israel will be the delegation’s chief of mission in China and is also expecting to return to Israel with at least one medal.

“Our main goal is to keep our place among the very elite club of nations which win Olympic medals,” Zinger says. “It may look trivial now, but it isn’t. It just gets harder and harder and in Beijing it’s going to be even tougher. Nevertheless, we’re not changing our goals and we definitely expect to claim between one or two medals.”

Despite the optimism, Lustig is still wary of naming the man or woman who he feels will win a medal, but was willing to list his favorites to finish on the Olympic podium.

“I think it’s still a bit early to say, who our best candidate for a medal is, because that very much depends on the athletes form right before the games,” Lustig says.

“We must claim a medal in the sailing. Our best candidates are Udi Gal and Gidi Kliger, who have been very consistent, and Shahar Tzuberi, who has shown a lot of progress, winning the bronze medal at the World Championships and beating Gal Fridman.

“Nika Kornecki and Vered Buskila can also record a good result if they’re in good form. We have invested a lot in this sport and therefore it must come back with a medal.”

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