Israeli judoka Raz Hershko takes home silver at Paris Olympics
Third medal for Israel at 2024 Games, after two others in judo this week; windsurfing medal races pushed off by a day; equestrian jumping team pulls out of last round of final
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
Israeli judoka Raz Hershko won a silver medal on Friday after losing to Brazil’s Beatriz Souza in the final match of the women’s over-78kg weight class at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
This is the 16th-ever medal for Israel, the third at the Paris Games — all in judo — and the third silver. Nine of Israel’s Olympic medals are in judo.
“It’s a bummer it wasn’t an Olympic gold, that was the goal,” Hershko told Israel’s Sport5 broadcaster minutes after the match. “I’m not sure what I’m crying over more, that I lost or that I have a medal.”
The judoka said that since the Tokyo Olympics — when she went home without an individual medal after losing in the round of 16 — “I didn’t rest, I went back to compete, to train, all to come and to do my best on the biggest stage, and to fix what happened in Tokyo.”
She added that “I so wanted the gold, I felt like it was my day, like I was there, that I was sharp, that I could make history in judo,” noting that she ultimately ended up with silver and “a small sense of missing out… but I’m happy.”
Hershko thanked her coach, Shanny Hershko — who is also her uncle — joking that “I can very objectively say that he’s the best coach in the world.”
Hershko, ranked second in the world, advanced straight to the round of 16 due to her ranking, where she defeated Marit Kamps of the Netherlands, before taking down Serbia’s Milica Žabić in the quarterfinal and then beating Turkey’s Kayra Ozdemir in the semifinal in just 15 seconds.
On Thursday, Israel won two medals in judo — silver for Inbar Lanir in the under-78kg class and bronze for Peter Paltchik in the under-100kg competition.
Friday marked the last individual judo competitions of the Paris Games, and Saturday is the mixed team judo competition — in which Israel won a bronze medal in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Israeli windsurfers had yet another disappointment when all of the medal races scheduled for Friday were pushed off for at least a day due to low winds.
Sharon Kantor and Tom Reuveny both qualified separately for the women’s and men’s semifinal iQFoil races after they each placed in 2nd following several days of qualifying races.
The entire week of windsurfing events has been plagued by delays and cancellations after weather conditions in the Marseilles marina made holding the events challenging.
The four sailors in each semifinal will be competing for the two remaining spots in the final (the first spot is taken by the top-ranked windsurfer), and everyone who qualifies for the final is guaranteed a medal.
Earlier, Israeli swimmers Gal Cohen Groumi and Anastasia Gorbenko both advanced to semifinals on Friday, in the men’s 100m butterfly and the women’s 200m individual medley, respectively. The semifinals are scheduled for Friday evening.
Tomer Frankel also swam in the men’s 100m butterfly, failing to advance, and Leah Polonsky competed in the women’s 200m individual medley and also did not progress to the semifinal.
Israel’s team in the mixed 4×100m medley relay — made up of Gorbenko, Cohen Groumi, Andi Murez and Ron Polonsky — finished 10th overall in the heats and did not advance to the final.
In the first race of the mixed dinghy event, Nitai Hasson and Noa Lasry were ranked fifth overall following their first two races. Ten races overall are expected in the event before the medal races.
In the individual dinghy events, Omer Vered Vilenchik was ranked 21st overall after four races in the men’s event, and Shay Kakon was ranked 22nd after three races in the women’s competition.
Elsewhere, Israel decided to pull out of the last round in the equestrian team jumping final, finishing in ninth and last place.
In the first round, Robin Muhr received 13 penalty points, and next up Ashlee Bond racked up 20 negative points. Seeing that a medal was already out of the question, Daniel Bluman decided to withdraw from jumping in the final round and instead save his strength for the individual competition next week.
In the team qualifier on Thursday, Bluman completed a perfect round with zero points.
On Saturday, Israelis will have their eyes on defending gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat, who will attempt to once again top the podium in the men’s artistic gymnastics floor exercise. Dolgopyat had a disappointing run in the qualifier a week earlier, finishing only in seventh position, but the scores are wiped clean for the medal contest.
At the same time, Israelis will also be crossing their fingers for yet another judo medal, when the mixed team competition is held on Saturday. Israel will face Mongolia in the first round, where up to six matches will be held to determine the winner that moves on to the round of 16.
Plus, if weather conditions allow, windsurfers Kantor and Reuveny have their own medal hopes in the final races of the iQFoil event.
In addition, cyclist Itamar Einhorn will compete in the men’s road race in Paris, while in sailing, Vilenchik and Kakon will continue races in the men’s and women’s dinghy events, hoping to qualify for next week’s medal races, while Hasson and Lasry will continue sailing in the mixed dinghy event.
