The year was 1936, the 11th Olympics were about to take place in Berlin, and 20-year-old German Lisel Judge was expected to compete in fencing.

"I really didn't have an Olympic dream. I knew I was good. I knew I was better than anyone else," she said.

But when the Olympic team was being selected, there was only one problem.

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"I was standing there and they didn't call me. And I said, 'What happened?' They said to me, 'You seem to forget that you have a Jewish father, and you have a Jewish grandmother, and for that we can't let you be in the German fencing team," she said.

Judge, who is now 96 and lives in Boca, realized her Olympic dream was over.

"So I cried and went home. It was terribly difficult to take, but there was nothing I could do," she said.

In fact, she didn't watch the Olympics for years.

"No, I was not interested in the Olympics at all," she said.

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When the Nazis moved in, Judge and her husband needed to get out.

"The Nazis decided close and smash every store that belong to every Jew, come to every home and smash it and take people to concentration camps," she said.

They made it on the last train out of Germany, but they were searched and would have been sent to a concentration camp. But they made a deal with a Nazi.

 "I said,'If you get me out of here with my baby, i'll give you all my jewelry'," she said.

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They made it to Boston soon after, and she taught fencing. She moved to Florida in the early 1980s.

Now, she is consumed by the games.

 

"You won't be able to find me for the next days, because I will be completely absorbed by the Olympics," she said.

She said that every time she watches the games, she thinks that it could have her there competing for gold.

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