Toasts drunk among the world's champions at the opening party; in the center appears Mrs. May Arida, president of the Lebanese Skiing Federation, and on her left the champion of Lebanon, her brother Simon Khoury
Its beginnings in Lebanon:
Water skiing in Lebanon is a newfangled novelty. Six years ago the face of our sea had not yet made the acquaintance of the water ski; today we have in this art a record we may rightly call enormous, in proportion to this small country! The first and last credit for the rise of water skiing goes to Mr. Michel Nader, owner of the Saint-Georges pool. By his energy and under his eye this branch of sport took its first steps, until it came to have standing and account among the foremost nations in the world of sport.
What, then, of water skiing in Lebanon? And why is so loud a stir being raised around it at this particular time?
The international tournament, August 17–20:
"The international water-skiing tournament is to be held in Lebanon"
— so runs the news; it is listed among the official events of the tourist year and the Emigrants' Summer, and preparations have been going forward for months at full speed... Lebanon faced competition from Monaco (Monte Carlo) and won in the end by vote — for those members of the federation who had previously visited Lebanon expressed their sincere admiration for our seashore and for the arrangements that could be assured should the international tournament be held here. Thus the matter was settled, and between August 17 and 20 last, Beirut witnessed,
The champion of France in a magnificent scene of jumping (see photo)