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The following week, I went to meet with the Israeli president, Ezer Weizman. I brought the silver medal from the European Championships and the Israeli Sport TV crew. I wanted a gym for my boxers, because we were still forced to train in a school playground with no facilities. The security told us to go home and wait for an invitation to speak with the president. I refused to leave and threatened to begin a hunger strike until the president agreed to meet with me. After a couple minutes, the security guards returned and said that President Weizman was with the president of Turkey, but the Director General Arie Shomer would speak with me. After two weeks, I was awarded a big gym in Haifa. My rent was 1 shekel (30 cents) a year, per student. This news was on TV every night for a week. Every morning when I came to school “Henriette Sold” where I was a physical education teacher, the kids would run to me and say "Michael we saw you on TV!"
November, 1998 (Buenos-Aires, Argentina) I was the head coach of the Israeli Boxing Team in the “under-19” World Championship. This was the first time I met the USA national team, face-to-face. We were staying in the same hotel. The impression I got was that the boxers had no discipline and were there to enjoy themselves and not win medals. I spoke with the head coach of Kazakhstan team, David Kostoev, at the draw. I asked him about the Americans. He said, "I worry more about the Russians and Cubans. The Americans, for us, is a lucky draw." This is when I decided to come to America. In this tournament, my boxer, Yuri Foreman, beat Kazakhstan in his first bout, Denmark in the second bout, and lost a very close decision to Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals. This was the first time an Israeli boxer made it to the quarters in a World Championship. I only brought two boxers. America (full team) only won one medal in this tournament, a bronze. Most of them lost in the first or second bout. I returned to Israel determined to move to America.
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