Israeli windsurfers steer toward Olympic medals; triathlete powers through delayed race
Sharon Kantor ranks 2nd overall, Tom Reuveny 3rd after day of sailing; judoka Maya Goshen beats Turkish opponent before loss to French foe; archer Mikaella Moshe fails to advance
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
The fifth day of competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics saw a disappointment for Israel in the triathlon, the end of the road for an archer and a badminton player, but a strong positioning for two Israeli sailors.
While weather conditions have continued to plague the windsurfing events in Marseilles, Israeli windsurfers Sharon Kantor and Tom Reuveny remained in solid positions after their races were completed Wednesday, with one more day of preliminary races slated for Thursday before Friday’s medal event.
In the women’s iQFoil event, Kantor ended the day ranked 2nd overall after the completion of 11 races. Earlier, Kantor was far ahead in the marathon race — worth double the points of the shorter slalom or course races — but with sailors struggling with low winds in certain areas, nobody had crossed the finish line after 60 minutes and the race was canceled and its results discarded.
In the men’s event, Reuveny maintained his 3rd place ranking after wrapping up his 10th race overall, behind Australia’s Grae Morris and Poland’s Pawel Tarnowski.
Another five races are expected tomorrow before Friday’s medal races. The top-ranked sailor advances straight to the final race, guaranteeing them a medal. Boats ranked 2nd and 3rd go straight to the semifinal and boats ranked 4th-10th advance to the quarterfinal, while all others are knocked out of contention.
After pollution levels in the Seine River — due to rainfall — delayed the men’s triathlon by a day, Israel’s Shachar Sagiv completed the race on Wednesday in 37th place out of 55 competitors.
The UK’s Alex Yee won gold, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde silver and France’s Leo Bergere took bronze. Five competitors did not finish the race, while many of the athletes collapsed in relief after crossing the finish line of the grueling competition combining swimming, cycling and running.
“Even though I didn’t finish in the spot I wanted, I tried to give everything I had. I wanted so much more,” Sagiv told Israel’s Sport5 broadcaster shortly after finishing the race. “It’s a big miss for me, but not many get to this position, to this starting line, and I’m really proud of what I managed to do over the past three years.”
Sagiv said that he lost ground during the swimming leg and couldn’t ultimately make it up: “Even though the race didn’t go the way I expected, I’m still happy with where I ended up,” he said. The support he felt from the crowd, “my family, all my friends, Israeli flags, gave me so much energy.” Now, he said, “I’ll rest for a little and think about how I’m planning for [the 2028 Olympics in] Los Angeles.”
Sagiv received two 15-second time penalties for technical errors during the swimming and running stages. In Tokyo, Sagiv took the 20th spot in the triathlon, the best Israeli finish in the Olympic event.
Earlier in the day, Israeli judoka Maya Goshen beat Turkey’s Fidan Ögel in her first match in the women’s under-70kg weight class, before losing her next match in the round of 16 to France’s Marie-Ève Gahié and being knocked out of the competition.
Goshen told Sport5 after the match that she felt “the Olympics is the Olympics and anything is possible, no matter what, no matter who I’m facing.” Ultimately, she said, “unfortunately that wasn’t my direction.”
“All of the past three years, I believed I could get here and I did it,” she added. “It didn’t end the way I wanted but I was very excited to be here.”
Over in the pool, Israeli swimmer David Gerchik finished his heat in the men’s 200m backstroke in third place and 22nd overall with a time of 1:58:79, failing to qualify for the semifinal.
Gerchik told Sport5 after exiting the water that the Olympic experience, “with 5,000 people in the audience” was very different than anything he was used to in previous competitions, but that “after a difficult year, mentally and physically,” he was happy simply to have made the competition.
The swimmer, 23, said his appearance in Paris is “just the beginning, and in the coming years I can gain a lot more experience in international competitions and come here a lot more prepared.”
Earlier, Badminton player Misha Zilberman beat his Nepali opponent Prince Dahal 21–12 and 21–10, but after two earlier loses it was not enough for him to advance to the next stage of the competition. Zilberman, at his fourth Olympic games, thus ended his run in Paris.
Writing on Facebook, he thanked all his supporters, noting that “you are the strength that allowed me to be at my peak and to keep going every day — or more accurately through four Olympic cycles — to be at the world peak for 16 years!”
Meanwhile, Israeli archer Mikaella Moshe was knocked out of competition after losing 1-7 to Romania’s Madalina Amăistroaie following four sets in the first elimination round in the women’s individual competition.
“It’s disappointing,” Moshe told Sport5. “I think I handled it OK,” she said, noting that she is new to the international archery scene, only picking up the sport two years ago after years of training as a rhythmic gymnast before deciding to pursue a different sport. “That’s also a factor.”
Asked what she took from her years in gymnastics to her new vocation, Moshe said that the “coordination, the dedication to work and to train and to keep going even when you don’t succeed” have served her well. “I’m happy to be here, I’m happy to be able to represent Israel, to compete under the flag of Israel in the world.”
On Thursday, archer Roy Dror will take his own shot at advancing in the men’s individual competition against the Netherlands’ Steve Wijler.
Also Thursday, judokas Inbar Lanir and Peter Paltchik will compete in the women’s under-78kg and the men’s under-100kg weight classes, respectively.
Lanir — who is ranked third in the world in her weight class — advances straight to the round of 16 due to her ranking. Paltchik, ranked 10th in the world, will face Mongolia’s Batkhuyagiin Gonchigsüren in his first match.
Also Thursday, Israeli swimmers Anastasia Gorbenko and Aviv Barzelay will compete in heats in the women’s 200m backstroke, while Martin Kartavi and Meiron Cheruti will swim in the men’s 50m freestyle and Ron Polonsky will appear in the men’s 200m individual medley. Then the foursome of Anastasia Gorbenko, Daria Golovaty, Ayla Spitz and Lea Polonsky will take part in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.
After two days of canceled events due to dangerous weather conditions caused by a storm in Tahiti, French Polynesia, the women’s surfing round 3 contest is slated to go ahead midday Wednesday local time, which is overnight between Wednesday and Thursday in Israel and Paris.
While Kantor and Reuveny will wrap up their preliminary windsurfing races on Wednesday, sailors Omer Vered Vilenchik and Shay Kakon will take to the water Thursday for the first day of the respective men’s and women’s dinghy events.
Rounding things up, Israel’s equestrian team — made up of Ashlee Bond, Daniel Bluman and Robin Muhr will compete in the team jumping qualification, hoping for a spot in Friday’s final.
