Despite a Terrible War, Israel Had a Record-Breaking Olympics

Israel concludes the Olympic games with seven medals – one gold, five silver, and one bronze.

By David Wiseman, The Algemeiner

The Paris Olympics are over, and Israel has triumphed.

In the most difficult circumstances imaginable, the Israeli athletes responded with their best ever Olympics, winning seven medals — one gold, five silver, and one bronze.

By contrast, India, which has over one billion people, only won six medals. Israel is a country of less than 10 million.

The medals came in sailing, judo, and gymnastics, proving once again that they are Israel’s most successful Olympic sports. All but two of the 20 medals Israel has ever won have come in these three sports.

Israel had a very slow start, but that all changed on Day Six. Peter Paltchik got the ball rolling when he won bronze in judo, and was very lucky to do so. With just seconds remaining in his contest and him ahead, he tried to avoid an attack from his opponent and was adjudged to receive a third shido, which would result in a disqualification. He pleaded with the referees to rescind it, and thankfully they did.

Following that, Inbar Lanir participated in Israel’s first Olympic Judo final in 32 years. But Israel made it to another judo final the very next day, when Raz Hershko advanced to the gold medal contest. Unfortunately, both were outplayed in their finals, but this shouldn’t take anything away from their incredible achievements.

On Day Seven, Israel won three medals in a single day.

Sharon Kantor became Israel’s first-ever female sailing medalist, when she won silver in windsurfing. Moments later, windsurfer Tom Reuveny won gold in the same event that his coach, Gal Fridman, won 20 years earlier in Athens. This was the first time Israel won gold medals at consecutive games.

Then Artem Dolgopyat became Israel’s most successful Olympian ever, when he won silver in gymnastics on the floor routine to go with the gold he won in Tokyo last time.

With the Olympics winding down, Israel won a seventh medal when the female rhythmic gymnastic group won silver in the all-around competition.

Archers Roy Dror and Mikaella Moshe both got knocked out in the first round. In the team event, they just missed out making the knockout rounds. Considering that Tokyo was the first Olympics Israel sent an archer to, the country is clearly making progress in this sport.

The artistic swimmers Shelly Bobritsky and Ariel Nassee finished 11th, which was Israel’s best ever result in the sport.

In the marathon, Lonah Chemtai Salpeter came ninth in the women’s, while Maru Teferi came in 26th, which was our best men’s finisher.

In his fourth Olympics, Misha Zilberman finished on a high in badminton. winning his final match. At the velodrome, Mikhail Yakovlev made the round of 16 in the sprint and the quarter finals in the keirin.

In the equestrian, Israel sent a jumping team for the second straight Olympics, where it made history by qualifying for the 10-team final for the first time.

Yuval Freilich was Israel’s first Olympic fencer since 2008. One loss in fencing means total elimination from the contest, and he lost a tough first round match by a score of 15-13.

In its first appearance since 1976, the men’s soccer team had a challenging tournament, finishing last in its group.

Artistic gymnast Lihie Raz finished 31st in the all-around event, and just missed out on making it to the final. In rhythmic gymnastics, Daria Atamanov qualified for the final where she finished fifth.

Anat Lelior qualified for the Round of 16 in surfing, which was a fantastic achievement.

Israel sent a record 18 swimmers to Paris, and made one final in the 4x200m men’s freestyle relay.

In taekwondo, Avishag Semberg entered with high hopes, but was eliminated in the first round, while in the triathlon, Shachar Sagiv finished 37th.

If these were regular times, these Olympics would be judged as a phenomenal success. Given the circumstances, it’s just remarkable if not incredible. Not only was stress high from the war, but Israeli and Jewish athletes were under serious threat from terror groups and antisemites. Luckily, no such incidents occurred.

Israeli athletes have set a high bar for the Los Angeles games, but it’s very likely they could set new records in the United States.

David Wiseman is the co-founder of Follow Team Israel, a page that shares the stories of Israeli sports to the world. You can find it on Facebook and Instagram. He is also the head of online reputation management at Buzzdealer.