David Buch

David Buch was the first person to represent Israel in swimming at the Olympics. Buch was born in Germany and moved to Tel Aviv when he was young. Buch was 10-years-old when he began swimming and set national records when he was 15. Buch also coached younger swimmers when he was only 13 and became the interim coach of his swimming club when he was 15. In 1950 he was named the as the best athlete at the Maccabiah Games. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics Buch swam in the 100 metres freestyle. It was the first time that Israel had competed at the Olympics, with Buch becoming the first swimmer from Israel to take part at the Olympics.

After undertaking a swimming coaching programme while at Yale University Buch coached the Israeli team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In 1974 Buch emigrated to Melbourne, Australia. Buch coached at the Mount Scopus College and the Maccabi-AJAX Swimming Club in Victoria until 1994. In 2002 at the Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem Buch was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony. During his career Buch competed at 15 editions of the Maccabiah Games for Israel and Australia.