Olympic silver medalist Sharon Kantor says gold is still ‘something to aspire to’
Returning home to Israel, windsurfer says she will think about 2028 Games after a period of rest; Israeli sailors in mixed dinghy event qualify for medal race
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
Israeli silver medalist Sharon Kantor said Tuesday evening upon her return to Israel that she still has much more to prove on the global sporting stage.
Kantor, 21, was a heavy favorite for a medal in windsurfing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, ultimately capturing the silver during the women’s iQFoil race on Saturday, following a week of delays and canceled races due to weather conditions in Marseilles.
“There was a lot of pressure surrounding me, I felt that there there was alot of expectation of me, but at a certain point I realized that I can only focus on myself,” Kantor said at a press conference at Ben Gurion Airport after returning home.
“I’m so happy that I succeeded in doing it, that I finished in second place,” she said. “I could have been in first — every athlete has that feeling of ‘I could have done a bit more,’ but now I have something to aspire to.”
Asked if she is already thinking about the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, Kantor said that she is first going to take a little break before returning to training and competing.
“Los Angeles 2028 is still far away, but I want to keep pushing myself, I have so much room to improve,” she said. “I want to keep going and to reach new achievements and to keep enjoying myself.”
The competition in Marseilles, which took place over the course of a week and included 16 different races, “was difficult and long… it was a very challenging week, psychologically, mentally, physically.”
Three days after her victory, the windsurfer said that “this medal is currently around my neck, but it still really hasn’t sunk in… I’m happy that it’s over and that I have time to breathe and to come to terms with everything about the past three years.”
While Kantor’s time in Paris is over, a number of other Israeli sailors are still competing in the Olympic waters.
On Tuesday, Israeli sailors Nitai Hasson and Noa Lasry qualified for Wednesday’s medal race in the mixed dinghy event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
At the end of their eight preliminary races, the duo were ranked in 8th place overall, securing a spot in the top 10 who advance to the medal race. The medal race counts for double points, and is tallied up along with the rest of the races to determine the winners, making Hasson and Lasry longshots to land on the podium.
Israeli sprinter Blessing Afrifah, 20, ended his Olympic run on Tuesday after failing to advance from the repechage round in the men’s 200m dash.
Afrifah told Israeli broadcaster Sport5 after the run that “I’m a little disappointed, my dream was to at least advance a round here at the Olympics, but I wasn’t so successful.”
“I trained as best I could, I fought, I wanted to have a good performance, and to represent the country, and I hope that people come and see that I fought to do my best, I didn’t give up, I ran as fast as I could,” he said.
Afrifah, 20, was born in Israel to parents from Ghana, and was granted Israeli citizenship in 2020 after a legal battle, finally able to represent Israel internationally. With his first Olympics behind him, the sprinter said he has big plans ahead.
“I achieved my dream, my dream was to be at the Olympics,” he said Tuesday. “I learned alot here, and I know that I have much more to learn and to train well and to get to [the 2028 Olympics in] Los Angeles.”
On Wednesday, returning taekwondo bronze medalist Avishag Semberg will attempt to return to the podium in Paris in the women’s under-49kg weight class.
Her first match will be against Saudi Arabia’s Dunya Abutaleb, who is the first Saudi woman to earn direct qualification for the Olympics. In the past, Saudi athletes have sometimes refused to face Israeli competitors, but there is no indication that Abutaleb will not show up for the match.
Semberg’s weight class also includes athletes from Iran, Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as a competitor with the refugee team who hails from Iran.
Cyclist Mikhail Iakovlev is slated to compete in the qualifying rounds of the men’s sprint, days before he will also take part in the men’s keirin event.
And Israeli kitesurfers Dor Zarka and Gal Zukerman will continue their races in their separate sailing competitions, aiming to secure a spot in Thursday’s medal races.
