SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : LADIES FIRST

Once again, here’s proof that timing is everything.

After never having won an Olympic medal, Israel got its first Thursday night in the women’s half-middleweight class of judo when Yael Arad took the silver. It was a moment greeted with deep emotion and great joy, both at the venue and in Israel.

The next night, 22-year-old judo competitor Shay Oren Smadga of Israel earned a bronze in the men’s lightweight division.

Because being first seems to be so crucial in life, it seems likely that Arad will become a national heroine of sorts and Smadga, well, perhaps not much more than the answer to a trivia question in years to come.

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.