In the pool, on the mat and in the river, Israeli Olympians seek gold and national pride
Amid security threats and likely protests, Israel’s 88 athletes in Paris are setting their sights on new achievements, with medal hopes strongest in gymnastics, judo and sailing
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
Under the shadow of the Israel-Hamas war, with a heightened threat level against the Israeli delegation, 88 athletes representing the Jewish state will compete in 15 different sports at the Paris Olympics beginning this week.
Israeli Olympic officials have high expectations for the competition this year, hoping to match or surpass the four medals won at the Tokyo Games, which were Israel’s most successful ever. A gold medal win – Israel has only three total – would mean hearing the Israeli national anthem play on the world stage at a time of sky-high anti-Israel sentiment.
Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar said last month that the security budget for the Olympics this year has been doubled, with the Shin Bet, Israeli sporting officials and French security working in close coordination to ensure the safety of the delegation amid a range of threats.
Israeli Olympic officials have said they hope and expect to bring home 4 or 5 medals overall from the Paris Games, as well as see Israeli athletes qualify for 15-18 finals, a lower-profile but still significant achievement.
“We have eight or nine members of the Olympic delegation who are capable of winning a medal,” Yael Arad, the president of the Olympic Committee of Israel told reporters last month. These athletes, she said, “have proven themselves on the world stage over the past few years.”
The 88-strong delegation is the second-largest Israel has ever sent to the Olympics, after the 90 who competed at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Eighteen of those are members of the soccer team – making its return to the Olympics for the first time since 1976 (in Tokyo, 24 were members of the baseball team).
Olympic officials have singled out a number of sports where they expect to perform best: artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, which includes a returning gold medalist as well as a high-ranked five-woman squad; sailing, where windsurfer Sharon Kantor is a heavy favorite; judo, in particular, the female competitors, as well as the mixed team event; the marathon, with two well-positioned runners; and taekwondo, with a returning bronze medalist.
A large number of this year’s delegation are returning Olympians, including veterans Sergey Richter, a sport shooter, and badminton player Misha Zilberman, who will both be appearing at their fourth Olympic games.
“We have in the delegation a significant number of athletes who are at a [really strong] jumping-off point – those who we say could beat anyone in the world,” said Arad. “But at the same time, you have to look at the whole picture.”
Soccer match ahead of opening ceremony
The games will begin even before Friday’s opening ceremony, when Israel’s soccer team faces off against Mali – a Muslim-majority country with no diplomatic ties to Israel – on Wednesday evening. The team will then face Paraguay on July 27 and Japan on July 30, which will determine if the team moves on to the knockout stage, where it could potentially face off against Iraq, Morocco or Egypt.
The team will be competing without its star goalie Daniel Peretz, who plays for the German team Bayern Munich (and is likely most famous for dating Israeli pop star Noa Kirel), after he was sidelined by an injury days before the games. Adding to its roster pulled from Israel’s best teams are also Oscar Gloukh, who plays with Austria’s RB Salzburg and Omri Gandelman from Belgium’s Ghent. Israeli officials tried but failed to convince Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise to allow Anan Khalaily to take time away for the Olympics.
Gymnastics
Returning medalists this year include artistic gymnast Artem Dolgopyat, who won Israel’s first-ever gymnastics Olympic gold in the men’s floor exercise in 2021, and is considered Israel’s top contender in Paris for a medal, and possibly even a second gold. He’s stayed in top form since Tokyo – winning gold at the World Gymnastics Championships on October 7, 2023, as news of the mass assault on Israel was still unfolding. Artistic gymnast Lihie Raz is also returning for her second games, after in Tokyo she failed to advance to any finals.
Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics delegation is notably strong this year, with its group performance team – made up of Ofir Shaham, Diana Svertsov, Adar Friedmann, Romi Paritzki and Shani Bakanov – in strong contention. The group won gold at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships last year in both the group all-around and the ribbons and balls contest.
Individual rhythmic gymnast Daria Atamanov has also made waves on the global scene, winning two golds and a silver medal at the World Games in 2022, although she broke her leg a few months later and had to sit out close to a year of competitions.
Sailing
One of Israel’s strongest medal contenders this year is Sharon Kantor, a windsurfer – born to immigrant parents from Australia and South Africa – who competes in the iQFoil class and has had a remarkably successful past few years. In February she won a gold medal at the iQFoil World Championships, after a year earlier winning silver at the European Windsurfing Championships.
Israel is sending seven other athletes in sailing events – which, after Judo, is the country’s most-decorated Olympic sport, with three medals. Gal Zuckerman, the daughter of two Olympians, will compete in the women’s formula kite contest, while Tom Reuveny will race in the men’s iQFoil and Dor Zarka in the men’s formula kite. Duo Noa Lasri and Nitai Hasson will sail in the mixed 470 race, Omer Vered Vilenchik will compete in the men’s ILCA7 and returning Olympian Shai Kakon – who finished 30th overall in Tokyo – will race in the women’s ILCA6.
Racing for gold
It will be the third Games for marathon runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, a highly decorated athlete whose past two Olympic appearances were marked by disappointment and struggles. In Rio, Salpeter stopped the marathon partway through due to pain caused by carrying extra breastmilk; in Tokyo, she paused the race because of painful menstrual cramps, eventually finishing in 66th.
Salpeter finished 3rd in the Boston Marathon last year, 2nd in the New York City Marathon in 2022, and first in the Hamburg half marathon last year, making her one to watch when the women’s Olympic Marathon is held on August 11. Alongside her will be Israeli runner Maor Tiyouri, also making her third Olympic appearance.
In the men’s marathon, Maru Teferi, Gashau Ayale and Girmaw Amare will all be running for Israel, with Teferi thought to be the strongest of the pack – in Tokyo he finished 13th out of 106 runners, won a silver at the 2023 World Athletics Championships and came in 6th in the New York City Marathon last year.
Sprinter Blessing Afrifah will be competing in the 200m dash – an event he won a gold medal in at the under-20s World Athletic Championships in 2022, and came 7th in earlier this year at the European Championships. Triathlete Shachar Sagiv will try to run, swim and bike to new heights in Paris after finishing 20th out of 50 competitors in Tokyo – where he competed alongside his brother, Ran, who has since retired from the sport.
Martial arts
The other returning medalists at this year’s games including Avishag Semberg, who won a surprise bronze in Taekwondo three years ago, and has racked up a number of medals at global competitions since then.
It wouldn’t be an Olympics without a large and impressive judo delegation, and this year does not disappoint, with 12 Israeli judokas vying for medals, and a number of them heavy favorites. Israel qualified female judokas in all 7 weight classes (something only Japan and Italy also managed) and male judokas in 5 weight classes.
Several of the women are considered strong contenders for medals, and while the male delegation contains many well-known, experienced athletes, they are not internationally ranked.
Raz Hershko, ranked second in the world in her weight class, is thought to be a heavy favorite to come home with a medal. Inbar Lanir, in the second-highest weight class, won the 2023 World Championship in Doha, and is also a strong medal contender. Gefen Primo, a newcomer to the Olympics in Paris, who won gold in the 2024 Judo Grand Slam Astana, is another judoka to watch.
Shira Rishony – at her third Olympics – Timna Nelson-Levy, Gili Sharir, and Maya Goshen round out the Israeli women’s judo delegation, and in addition to their individual matches will likely be part of the team vying in the mixed team competition – in which Israel took home a bronze medal in Tokyo.
On the men’s side, well-known judoka Sagi Muki will be back for his third Olympics, joined by returning Olympians Peter Paltchik, Tohar Butbul and Baruch Shmailov, as well as newcomer Yam Wolczak. Muki, Paltchik, Butbul and Shmailov already have bronze medals from the 2020 mixed team competition, and their chances at another medal appear stronger in that event than their individual matches – but there’s room for surprises.
The Israeli judoka world took a hard blow last month when Omer Smadga, the son of Oren Smadga – the coach of Israel’s national team and himself an Olympic medalist – was killed fighting in Gaza. The elder Smadga stepped away from coaching for several weeks, but announced a week before the games that he would nevertheless lead the team in Paris.
Water sports
In the pool, a whopping 18 Israelis will be competing in a wide variety of races, most prominent among them Anastasia Gorbenko, who will have six different shots at a medal, and in Tokyo made history as the first Israeli female swimmer to advance to an Olympic final. She won gold in the 200m individual medley at the European Aquatics Championships in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
The large swimming delegation also includes US-born Andi Murez, brother-and-sister duo Ron and Leah Polonsky, returning Olympians Gal Cohen Groumi, Meiron Cheruti, Tomer Frankel, Aviv Barzelay and Denis Loktev, as well as newcomers Ayla Spitz, Daria Golovty, David Gerchik, Martin Kartavi, Alexey Glivinskiy, Bar Soloveychik, Eitan Ben Shitrit and Adam Maraana – born to a Muslim father and Jewish mother –who is the first Arab-Israeli to compete for Israel at the Olympics since 1976.
Outside the pool, Matan Roditi will dive into Paris’s River Seine seeking to improve on his appearance in Tokyo, when he came in a surprise 4th place in the 10km open water swim, just narrowly missing out on a medal. In the water but far away from Paris, surfer Anat Lelior is making her second Olympic appearance, taking to the waves in Tahiti.
And making waves of a different kind is Israel’s synchronized swimming delegation (now called artistic swimming by the Olympics), made up of Shelly Bobritsky (who competed in Tokyo) and Ariel Nassee. The duo are considered Israel’s best-ever competitors in the sport to date, but face stiff competition in Paris.
Diverse delegation
Israel is also sending four cyclists to Paris, including track rider Mikhail Yakovlev, who represented Russia until he moved to Israel in 2022, who will compete in both the keirin and the sprint – considered his stronger event. Bikers Itamar Einhorn and Rotem Gafinovitz will compete in the men’s and women’s road race, respectively, while mountain biker Tomer Zaltsman – who broke his arm last month but was cleared to compete – will take part in the cross-country.
After making history with its equestrian debut in Tokyo, Israel is hoping to improve on its 2021 appearance, where the team was eliminated during the qualification round after another member fell from his horse, knocking the team from contention.
Returning Olympian Ashlee Bond will be joined by Colombian-Israeli Daniel Bluman (who was supposed to compete in Tokyo but was disqualified at the last minute due to his horse’s registration as American, not Israeli), French-Israeli Robin Muhr and US-Israeli Isabella Russekoff as the reserve. Bond, Bluman and Muhr will also compete in the individual jumping event.
Fencer Yuval Freilich – born in Israel to immigrants from Australia – made history earlier this year when he won gold at the Doha Grand Prix in Qatar, causing “Hatikvah” to play in the Gulf nation. Freilich will be Israel’s first Olympic fencer since 2008, and despite an impressive resume will face tough competition in Paris.
Israel will also be sending two archers to compete in Paris: Roy Dror and Mikaella Moshe — who only took up the sport in 2022 after years of training as a rhythmic gymnast — who will compete both as individuals and in the mixed team event.
Two athletes living in Israel will also be competing under the banner of the Refugee Olympic Team, Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed, a native of Sudan, who will be competing in the men’s 10,000m race, and Tachlowini Gabriyesos, of Eritrea, who will run in the men’s marathon. While neither will compete under the Israeli flag, they receive the same backing and support as the rest of the Israeli athletes, said Olympic officials.
Inescapable drumbeat of war
All eyes will be on the Israeli Olympic delegation this year, and largely not for sporting reasons. The heightened threat to Israeli athletes means Israel has doubled its security budget for this year compared to Tokyo, and they are braced to expect boos, turned backs and refused handshakes.
Like most in the country, few of the athletes have been untouched by the events on and since October 7. The majority of this year’s delegation is in their late teens or early 20s – the age of most Supernova attendees, and of most soldiers during their mandatory service.
Swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko’s childhood friend, Matan Angrest, is held hostage in Gaza; most of the judokas knew Lt. Yonatan Goutin, who was killed fighting Hamas in Kibbutz Be’eri; soccer player Oscar Gloukh lost his best friend, Sgt. Afik Tery, while fighting in Gaza in March.
The dozens of elite athletes representing Israel have worked for years to reach the sport’s most prominent stage. This year, they will give it their all while trying to, however briefly, put aside the background noise of 10 months of war.
