TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israel is unlikely to become a major force in world athletics but the influx of leading former Soviet athletes looks like bringing the country a level of success of which it could only previously have dreamed.


In the past two years newly naturalized Israeli athletes of Soviet extraction have taken Israel into the finals of the Olympics and the European Championships for the first time.


Recent news that Ukrainians Inessa Kravets and Zhanna Tarnopolskaya are considering moving to Tel Aviv's elite Maccabi club and taking Israeli citizenship highlights the transformation in Israeli athletics since the disintegration of the Soviet Union.


If Kravets, the Olympic and European long-jump silver medalist and world indoor triple-jump champion, and Tarnopolskaya, who won silver for Ukraine in the 100 and 200 meters in this summer's European Championships in Helsinki, switch nationalities, then it is unlikely to be long before Israel wins its first athletics medals in major competition.


Kravets, who is Jewish, and Tarnopolskaya, who has a Jewish husband, are among a clutch of former Soviet athletes being urged to seek their fame and fortunes overseas.


Russian athletics official Valentin Balakhnichev reflected a view held by many in the former Soviet states when he said that athletes should go abroad because of the lack of financial support and poor facilities at home.


"There is complete freedom now and it is understandable that athletes should leave," Balakhnichev said.


"We can't support our athletes the way we used to under the state system. We're encouraging them to go elsewhere."


Israel is one of the most popular destinations for Soviet athletes who are Jewish, or who have Jewish connections, and over the past five years there has been a steady influx of Soviet athletes to Israel.


The result is that now more than 40 per cent of Israel's elite pool of talent is of Soviet extraction.


While leading Israeli athletes may not be too happy with that situation, Ilan Goldwasser, the new general secretary of the Israeli Athletics Federation, points out that the importance of this trend for Israeli athletics lies not so much in the arrival of former Soviet athletes but in the coaches from the extinct communist empire.


"We are planning for the long term," said Goldwasser.


"There are more than 20 Soviets coaching at a high level, far more than there are native Israelis. Of course, we don't yet know what effect that will have on our athletics. We will see that in a few years," he added.