Hatikva in Marseille: Windsurfing winner Reuveny says he felt all of Israel behind him
As Jewish state’s national anthem plays for only 4th time in Olympic history, gold medalist speaks of brother fighting in war
MARSEILLE, France — Israel’s national anthem Hatikva sounded in Marseille Saturday evening as gold medalist Tom Reuveny received his medal following the men’s windsurfing final.
It was the first time Israel’s national anthem has sounded at the Paris Games (only gold winners have their anthems played at medal ceremonies) and just the fourth time in Israel’s entire history at the Games.
Winning gold for Israel means far more than Olympic glory because of the war in Gaza, Reuveny said after his victory on Saturday.
“My brother has been a combat soldier since the war began… it’s much bigger than me to win this event and it feels amazing,” Reuveny told Reuters after coming ashore.
Reuveny’s gold followed a silver for his teammate Sharon Kantor, 21, in the women’s windsurfing, with the pair delivering Israel’s best Olympic sailing medals result.
“We are in a tough year and a tough position… in this situation to represent Israel is a big honor for everyone and we all understand our roles: to give a bit of joy,” said Eli Zuckerman, head coach of Israel’s Olympic sailing team.
Watch the medal ceremony with the Israeli national anthem here:
We’re not crying: our national anthem Hatikva at @Paris2024, following windsurfer Tom Reuveny winning a gold medal.
We cannot be prouder of our amazing @Olympic_Israel athletes ????????????https://t.co/pKLGpioVoE
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) August 3, 2024
“I’m very happy that we succeeded,” Zuckerman told Reuters, adding: “I think the athletes are also very happy and very proud to do it while our country is in such a complicated situation.”
Reuveny, 24, said he felt all of Israel was behind him in the run-up to the Games, which helped him through. He thanked everyone for the many messages of support.
“It was so hard to go training while everyone else was crying over lost people, dead people. It’s been so hard and I still had to put my head down and keep training and its all for this moment,” said the visibly emotional sailor.
Israel’s sailing coach said the team, which is represented in a record seven of the 10 Olympic sailing events in 2024, had felt a clear sense purpose because of the expectations on them.
“It’s not only [that] we go surfing or we go sailing, we are representing Israel and we’ll do whatever we can to bring the biggest honor,” Zuckerman said.
“A lot of people said: ‘We see you on TV and it’s making us happy, it’s amazing, it’s amazing,'” the head coach said. “We get it from a lot of people and it’s giving us a lot of power.”
He added: “On the other hand I would be very happy if we did not need this and the situation would be like any other country.”
Israel had previously achieved a total of three medals in windsurfing, Zuckerman noted, all won by the coaches to its sailors in Marseille. Reuveny’s coach Gal Fridman won Israel’s first gold in Athens in 2004 and Kantor’s trainer Shahar Tzuberi got bronze in 2008.
