Eight hundred ninety athletes representing 23 countries competed in the 1953 4th Maccabiah Games, held September 20 to 29, in 18 branches of sports. Israeli President Itzhak Ben-Zvi opened the Games at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv District, in front of a crowd of 50,000. American Olympic wrestling champion Henry Wittenburg carried the US flag for Team USA. At the closing ceremony Prime Minister David Ben Gurion addressed the collected athletes, saying: "Come back to us for the next Maccabiah, and bring along representatives of Romania, Hungary, and Russia," as a crowd of 50,000 cheered.