Israeli Olympians give it their all in judo, fencing, surfing and more
Judoka Gefen Primo advances to repechage round before knockout; swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko qualifies for 100m breaststroke semifinal but opts to sit it out to focus on 400m medley
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
The second day of sporting events at the 2024 Paris Olympics saw two swimming achievements, a disappointment in fencing, and mixed results in judo for the Israeli delegation.
Meanwhile, an Algerian judoka set to face an Israeli on Monday disqualified himself from competing on Sunday, rather than face a competitor from the Jewish state.
Judoka Gefen Primo had a solid run in the women’s under-52kg weight class, winning her first two matches against South Korea’s Jung Ye-rin and Switzerland’s Binta Ndiaye, before losing to reigning Olympic champion Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi, which sent Primo to the repechage round.
In the repechage match, Primo lost in just 46 seconds to Hungary’s Réka Pupp, ending her individual Olympic run.
A tearful Primo told Israel’s Sport5 channel a few minutes after losing her final match that “it’s not easy” to accept the loss: “I wanted things to end differently,” she added. “I’m sorry that it ended this way.
Fellow judoka Baruch Shmailov, meanwhile, won his first match against Morocco’s Abderrahmane Boushita — who walked off the mat without shaking the Israeli’s hand. Shmailov then lost in the round of 16 match against Tajikistan’s Nurali Emomali, ending his individual Olympic run. Emomali also exited the mat without shaking Shmailov’s hand. Shaking hands following a judo match is not mandatory, but it is customary.
Shmailov told Sport5 after his loss that “I’m very, very sad and frustrated, but I gave everything I could, I just wanted to make people happy… I’m sorry, I’m sorry it ended this way. I gave my heart for this.”
The judoka gave a special thanks to team coach Oren Smadga, “who made the really difficult decision to come here” just a few weeks after his son Omer was killed while fighting with the IDF in Gaza. “He’s a symbol of resilience for the entire country. Oren is a national symbol… the fact that he’s here gives huge significance to the athletes. We knew he would come, no matter what.”
In the pool, Israeli swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko qualified for the semifinal in the women’s 100m breaststroke, finishing seventh overall in the heats. However, the swimmer decided not to partake in the semifinal on Sunday evening, and instead to focus her effort and energy on Monday’s 400m individual medley — which takes place on the same day as the 100m breaststroke final.
Swimmer Denis Loktev advanced to the semifinal in the men’s 200m freestyle, finishing sixth in his heat and 14th overall. He completed the semifinal in last place and did not advance to Monday’s final.
Meanwhile, swimmer Leah Polonsky finished 19th in the women’s 200m freestyle, failing to advance to the semifinal, while Adam Maraana finished 28th in the men’s 100m backstroke and also did not advance to the semifinal.
In a disappointment, fencer Yuval Freilich — the son of Australian immigrants — lost in his first match against Italy’s Andrea Santarelli and was knocked out of the competition.
The fencer told the One sport news site that “there’s nothing I wanted more than to stand on the podium and bring pride, joy and a moment of comfort to the State of Israel — that’s the feeling that went with me to the playing area and it is what accompanies all of us in the delegation all the time.”
Freilich said “I gave it my all and I didn’t succeed… that’s how it is in sports,” he said, adding that “I’m still an athlete, and it’s OK.”
Overnight, surfer Anat Lelior — competing far from Paris in the waves of Tahiti — ended her first heat with 5.43 points, and, as the second in her heat, did not qualify to automatically advance to round 2. Lelior will therefore surf again midday Sunday, Tahiti time, hoping to score high enough to advance to round 3 and avoid being eliminated.
Israeli shooter Sergey Richter finished 33rd in the men’s air rifle qualification, and did not advance to the final.
Artistic gymnast Lihi Raz competed in the qualifying round for the women’s individual event, finishing with 51.632 points overall, placing highest in her strongest event, the vault, with a score of 13.449. Ultimately, she fell just short of qualifying for the finals, but is the top reserve athlete if any of the qualifiers pull out of the competition.
After completing her qualifier, Raz told Sport5 that she was “on cloud nine, it was a super fun competition, I enjoyed every moment.”
Raz said that she has been “working hard on this for so long, and we worked to be at the peak at this moment… It’s a dream to be here, and you can do it, you have to dream, to aspire, to work hard, and you can get to the biggest stage and do your best.”
Lihi Raz scored 51.632 in all-around women’s qualification at @Paris2024 ????????????????♀️ pic.twitter.com/CQ4apOXJG5
— Team Israel (@Olympic_Israel) July 28, 2024
Windsurfers Sharon Kantor and Tom Reuveny were slated to begin their separate competitions with initial heats in the iQFoil on Sunday, but all of the races were delayed due to weather conditions. Weather permitting, they will both take to the water on Monday.
Also Monday, in addition to Gorbenko competing in the 400m individual medley, swimmer Aviv Barzelay will take part in the women’s 100m backstroke.
Mountainbiker Tomer Zaltsman — who broke his arm just a month ago, but was cleared to compete in the Olympics — will compete in the men’s cross-country race on the 4.4km course at Élancourt Hill outside Paris.
Badminton player Zilberman will continue his matches in the group stage, facing off against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen.
Judokas Timna Nelson Levy and Tohar Butbul will compete in the women’s under-57kg weight class and men’s under-73kg class, respectively. Nelson Levy is ranked 10th in the world, while Butbul is ranked 22nd.
Butbul will advance automatically to the round of 16 on Monday since his opponent in the initial match, Algeria’s Messaoud Dris, disqualified himself by showing up for his weigh-in over the 73kg limit. Dris had reportedly always been planning to back out of the match for political reasons, and is likely to face sanctions from the International Judo Federation and the International Olympic Committee.
