In fact, three Jewish won golds as part of America's 4x100m relay team.

And by Wednesday, Israel could be celebrating a gold of their own as Shahar Tzuberi leads the way in the windsurfing competition.

All eyes at the swimming pool were on Michael Phelps as he attempted to win eight gold medals. Phelps won his second gold in the 4x100m relay in a team which also included Jewish stars Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale.

The quartet, completed by Cullen Jones, also broke the world record.

In the qualifying round, Jewish swimmer Ben Wildman-Tobriner was part of the team, so he also received a gold medal.

The win gave Lezak his third career gold.

He enjoyed further medal success on Thursday when he tied for third place in the 100m freestyle with Brazil's Cesar Cielo Filho.

On Saturday, 41-year-old Dara Torres became the oldest swimmer to win an Olympic medal when she anchored the US women's 4x100 freestyle relay team to a silver.

"As I've said from the beginning of this, age is just a number," Torres, a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, told The New York Times.

For Torres, the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympics, it was her 10th medal.

American Sada Jacobson was the first Jewish winner, taking home a fencing silver medal.

Jacobson lost 15-8 in the women's individual sabre final on Saturday to fellow American Mariel Zagunis.

Tzuberi is Israel's best hope of a second historic gold medal.

Tzuberi is leading the windsurfing competition in Qingdao, but the 21-year-old still has five more races to go before medals are awarded on Wednesday.

There was disappointment for Israel on the tennis courts as the country's interest in the competition ended on Tuesday.

SILVER STREAK: Sada Jacobson, left, celebrates her silver medal in women's individual sabre (fencing) with gold medal winner Mariel Zagunis, centre, and bronze winner Becca Ward

Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich were trailing 4-6, 4-5 in their first round doubles match when rain forced a premature end.

The following day Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement completed victory in just one minute.

Israel's top female player Shahar Peer lost 6-3, 7-6 to ninth seed Vera Zvonareva in the second round.

Tzipi Obziler lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 to Ukrainian Mariya Koryttseva.

Peer and Obziler teamed-up to face Gisela Dulko and Betina Jozami in the first round of the doubles tournament and went down 6-3, 6-2.

JOY: Dara Torres, anchor of the United States' women's 4x100-metre freestyle relay swimming team, is overjoyed with her silver medal

An Israeli swimmer who stayed in the Olympics despite the sudden death of his father set a new national record.

But Alon Mandel's 200m butterfly achievement was not enough to qualify for the semi-finals.

Kostia Mandel, who coached his son, was trying to put up a banner in support of his son outside their Netanya home when he fell of the ladder, sustaining fatal injuries.

Also in the pool, Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or smashed the Israeli record in the 200m freestyle to reach the semis, but he failed to win a place in the final.

Tom Be'eri also broke the national record in the 200m breaststroke, but missed out on a semi-final berth by 25 hundredths of a second.

Swimmer Gal Nevo set a new Israeli record in his 200m individual medley to reach the semi-finals, while Anya Gostomelsky also set a national record in the 100m freestyle.

Meanwhile, the sailing team of Udi Gal and Gideon Kliger continued to perform below expectations in their 470 event. They are currently 16th overall.

Vered Bouskila and Nike Kornecki remain in fourth place in the overall standings in women's 470 Class sailing and are still in medal contention.