Misha Zilberman is never gonna win an Olympic medal. Israel's lone badminton hopeful is not exactly a hopeful, but he keeps trying. In 2012 games: lost both matches, did not advance. In 2016: won one, lost one, did not advance. 2020 2021: won one, lost one, did not advance. 2024: won one, lost two...

Misha is not exactly chopped liver. He is a European medalist, taking bronze in 2022. Alas, Olympic badminton is completely dominated by Asians, so Misha has no chance. (If you need to be explained why Israel is not part of Asia for sporting reasons, we'll be here for a while.)

But we're not profiling Misha just to fulfill our Olympic quota (and not to check off our first Jewish badminton player). We must talk about his mixed doubles career. MUST!

Those who follow tennis know that mixed doubles is sort of like the black sheep of the sport: it's there, but no one is really paying attention. Same deal in badminton, we assume (we can't say we know much about badminton). But they give out an Olympic medal and everything. Sadly, Misha did not qualify.

Sadly, because Misha's mixed doubles partner is Svetlana Zilberman. No, she is not his wife or sister. She is his MOTHER.

Svetlana is in her 60s and still competes with Misha at various international meets, even though she is 30 years older than her closest competitor. They even won a number of titles a few years ago.

Still, playing mixed doubles with your MOTHER...

There is Oedipal, and there is, well, Jewish.