Israeli artistic swimmers dance to gold at European Games 'just 10 mins from Auschwitz'

Auschwitz-Birkenau has become a symbol of Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million European Jews during the second world war. 

Israeli Olympic Association Chairperson Yael Arad told Channel 13 last week: “An emotional morning with a first medal for the delegation to the games.

“There is nothing more symbolic than standing with your head held high and singing [the Israeli national anthem] Hatikvah just 10 minutes from Auschwitz."

She said the whole team had “tears in our eyes” and added: “We promised to carry the memory of our Jewish brethren and that is what we are doing.”

Israeli swimmer Shelly Bobritsky said: “We were very focused before the competition as we knew we had a chance to win this event and that gave us huge motivation.

“We were really determined, felt the energy in the water so I think our swim was quite good. 

“We wanted to catch the judges’ eyes, do our best and we just did that. It was so nice to hear our national anthem played at the end.”