Jewish and Israeli Olympians shined in Paris this summer. A whopping 19 Jewish athletes from across the world earned medals for their respective nations in a variety of sports.
Israel earned a record seven medals, with one gold medal, five silver medals, and one bronze medal, bringing one of its largest delegations to date.
Now that the final tally of medals has been established, get to know the Jewish and Israeli Olympians coming home with new hardware.
Amit Elor
The stakes were high for 20-year-old Amit Elor coming into the Paris Olympics. Elor, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Israel, was already a two-time world champion and the top wrestler in the 68-kilogram weight class before she earned a gold medal for the United States.
The teen claims a winning streak that dates back to 2019 and now has the title of the all-time youngest U.S. Olympic wrestling champion.
Elor has often expressed her love for Israel in interviews over the years. After earning her gold medal, she donned it in a video alongside a yellow ribbon, a symbol of support for the hostages still held in Gaza.
“Eighty years ago my grandparents survived the Holocaust, but antisemitism is still all around us,” Elor said in the video, which was in response to a comment saying, “You belong in the gas chamber” with an inverted red triangle, a symbol for Hamas.
“My grandparents won. I won,” Elor said “Humanity will win. Never again.”
Artem Dolgopyat
Expectations were high for Artem Dolgopyat following his gold medal win in floor exercise in Tokyo. The Ukrainian-born gymnast struggled during the qualifying round, but triumphed to clinch a silver medal in the finals.
Dolgopyat’s impressive showing makes him the first Israeli athlete to medal in consecutive Olympics.
At 27 years old, Dolgopyat is the reigning 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics champion, the 2022 European Artistic Gymnastics champion, and a two-time Maccabiah Games gold medalist. Dolgopyat won his first world championship on Oct. 7, learning of the attack on Israel when he woke that morning for competition.
“I fulfilled my dream of getting the three gold medals from the biggest competitions [Euros, Worlds, and Olympics] and I can’t process it because I can’t really be happy. It’s a different situation. It’s hard for me to think about it. I still have some hope in my mind that in a few days, it will be over and I might be able to be happy,” he said to the media following his victory.
Claire Weinstein
Teen swimming phenom Claire Weinstein won a silver medal with the U.S. women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
The first-time Olympian swam the first leg of the relay in a team with swimming icon Katie Ledecky, Erin Gemmell, and Paige Madden.
The New Yorker, who celebrated her bat mitzvah at Reform synagogue Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, combined her love for the pool and her Judaism for her bat mitzvah project. She volunteered as a swim coach at Westchester Aquatic Swim Club and donated money to an organization that provides training fees and competition funding to low-income swimmers.
“Because of her passion for the sport and belief that everyone should learn to swim and have the opportunity to be a competitive swimmer if they desire, on her behalf a donation was made to the Christopher Dewey Memorial Swim Foundation,” her bat mitzvah announcement said. “Her donation will assist low income swimmers with training fees and also fees to participate in travel competitions.”
Following her trip to the Olympics, Weinstein will swim for the University of California, Berkeley.
Jackie Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub
Jewish-American fencers Jackie Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub earned gold medals with the U.S. women’s foil teams. Dubrovich, 30, and Weintraub, 21, are first-time Olympic champions. The former narrowly missed the podium in Tokyo and the college senior deferred her last two semesters to prepare for the Summer Games.
Weintraub is also European Maccabi Games gold medalist. Dubrovich’s parents were Jewish exiles who fled the Soviet Union.
Inbar Lanir
Israeli judoka Inbar Lanir received her first individual medal, receiving a silver for Israel in the 78-kilogram weight class. In Tokyo, Lanir was a member of the mixed team which came in third.
Despite political symbols being banned at the Olympics, the judoka wore a yellow scrunchie instead of a yellow ribbon to call for the release of hostages in Gaza.
“Those who understand it, will understand,” Lanir said.
The 24-year-old judoka and current world champion, captured gold at the 2023 World Judo Championships in the women’s under-79kg event. That same year, she was named the 2023 European Judo Union European Athlete of the Year and received similar honors at the World Masters tournament and Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam.
However, she has recently gone viral in Israel for her kindness in the wake of Oct. 7. She babysat, cooked and grocery-shopped for her neighbor — who didn’t know she was an Olympian.
“Instead of training for the Olympics, she’s babysitting,” Sheizaf Tal Meshulam wrote on Facebook, per JTA. “So just know that behind a well-deserved medal stands a woman with a heart of gold.”
Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team
Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team’s hot streak continued at the Summer Olympics, earning them a silver medal.
Led by 20-year-old captain Romi Paritzki, Team Israel included Diana Svertsov, 19; Adar Friedmann, 18; Ofir Shaham, 19; and Shani Bakanov, 18.
Reflecting on seeing so many supporters come out to cheer them on, Paritzki said the five-member team is “so proud to represent the state and to lift it; we’re a strong people.”
Rhythmic gymnastics, which includes hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon, and rope events, blends artistic gymnastics (think Simone Biles and Jewish gold medalist Aly Raisman) with dance-like rhythms and the use of equipment.
Recently, the team took home the Israel’s first gold medals at the 2023 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Valencia, Spain. The Israelis also triumphed at the 2022 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships held in Tel Aviv.
Jemima Montag
Australian race walker Jemima Montag earned herself two bronze medals in the 20-kilometer race walk and the first-ever marathon mixed relay event.
The 26-year-old’s parents met at the 1989 Maccabiah Games where her father played cricket and her mother competed in the heptathlon for Australia. Montag herself was her nation’s flag bearer at the 2017 Maccabiah Games where she came second in the 10km race walk.
When she was 15, Montag was named the Australian 2013 Outstanding Jewish Junior Sportswoman of the Year Award.
Both her paternal grandparents are Holocaust survivors; Montag has plans to write a book about her grandmother’s experiences in Auschwitz.
Jessica Fox and Noemie Fox
Australian canoe paddler Jessica Fox had little to prove in Paris. As the most decorated athlete in Olympic canoe slalom, Fox has long been seen as the top canoe paddler in history. She earned two gold medals at these Olympics, in women’s kayak slalom, and in the canoe slalom in Paris. Now, the 30-year-old is the proud owner of three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals.
The daughter of two Olympic paddlers — her French-Jewish mother, who coaches both her daughters, and her British father — Fox has been a passionate advocate for women’s competition in the sport.
In recognition of her achievements, Fox was named Jewish Sportswoman of the Year by Maccabi Australia in 2014.
Jessica’s younger sister, Noemie Fox, made her Olympic debut with a splash. The 27-year-old took the gold in the first-ever Olympic kayak cross event. To take the top prize, Noemie defeated her sister in the preliminary round of the event.
Previously, the Fox sisters and their mother took a “girls trip” to Israel for Rosh Hashanah in 2019.
Nick Itkin
Jewish-American fencer Nick Itkin earned his first individual medal in Paris, receiving a bronze in the men’s foil competition.
Ranked No. 2 in the world, Itkin won a bronze medal in the men’s team competition in Tokyo and has continued to achieve success on the strip.
The five-time U.S. national champion has earned three World Championship medals in foil. He was the World Cup victor in 2020 and 2023, Pan American Cup gold medalist in 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and the 2024 Grand Prix champion.
Itkin’s father, Misha Itkin, was a Jewish immigrant originally from Ukraine and is a current fencing coach. While the young fencer said he doesn’t consider himself to be religious, his Jewish connection is felt through his strong relationship with his father.
“I can’t say that I’m very much involved in the Jewish religion, but my father, it’s a huge part of his identity so obviously I grew up experiencing the culture and the religion,” Itkin said. “When we visited Israel [in 2022], it was one of his goals, to bring his family there. It meant a lot to him.”
Peter Paltchik
Peter Paltchik received a bronze in the 100-kilogram weight class. The Ukrainian-born athlete discussed the war in Gaza after his win since his trainer’s son was killed in combat just weeks before the Olympics began.
“Nothing ever comes easy to me, the time we are going through in the country, war, the injuries,” Paltchik told Haaretz. “I just wanted to make everyone happy.”
Raz Hershko
A third member of the third-place Israeli judo team earned a medal in Paris. Judoka Raz Hershko brought home her second medal for Israel in the over-78-kilogram division.
Hershko, who is ranked No. 2 in the world for her weight class, claimed her first-ever first-place finish at the 2023 European Judo Championships. She dedicated that win to former national Israeli judo team member Yonatan Goutin, who was killed fighting Hamas on Oct. 7 in Kibbutz Be’eri.
Hershko’s uncle and coach, Shany Hershko, is the current coach of the Israeli women’s national judo team.
Sarah Levy
Rugby wing Sarah Levy earned a bronze medal with Team USA on its women’s rugby sevens team. The U.S. women’s rugby team, brought to international prominence after its stunning Cinderella run, earned its first medal in Paris. The 28-year-old San Diego native was featured in three of the six games the U.S. played during the tournament.
Levy, who was born in South Africa, lived in Israel for a year growing up. She also celebrated her bat mitzvah in the Jewish homeland. She previously competed in the JCC Maccabi Games as a soccer player when she was a teenager, medalling alongside Team USA assistant coach, Zack Test.
Rugby runs in Levy’s family. Her great-grandfather, Louis Babrow famously played in a rugby match on Yom Kippur in 1937. He claimed that he could compete because of the time difference.
“I’m a South African Jew, not a New Zealand Jew and New Zealand is eight hours before South Africa in time. When we are playing our holy day will not yet have dawned in South Africa,” he said.
Sharon Kantor
Israeli iQFoil windsurfer Sharon Kantor came in second during the women’s competition. At just 21, Kantor is the first Israeli woman to earn a sailing medal.
To qualify for the games, Kantor topped the podium at the iQFoil World Championships in February.
Sienna Green
Water polo player Sienna Green, 19, was a member of the Australian team which earned a silver medal.
The first-time Olympian played in all seven of Australia’s games as a center back.
Water polo runs in Green’s family. Her father Antony competed for Australia at the 1989 and 1993 Maccabiah Games where he earned a bronze medal.
Tom Reuveny
Israel’s sole gold medallist at the 2024 Games, iQFoil windsurfer Tom Reuveny clinched the top prize 20 years after his coach, Gal Friedman, earned Israel’s first gold medal in sailboarding.
While the 24-year-old said the support from the Jewish community has been strong, he has received hate comments over competing for Israel, and even death threats.
“I didn’t read all of them, but I read some of them and it did give me some motivation. I just wanted to prove to the haters that Israel is a strong country, and those messages are not going to bring me down,” he told CNN.
Reuveny, who is seen to many as the person who popularized windsurfing in Israel, has been a strong advocate for unity through sports. In interviews, he discussed hoping to find a Palestinian athlete in the Olympic village and having a conversation about being an elite athlete, not politics.
Still, the windsurfer said that his victory has been a high-point in a difficult year. Reuveny’s brother has served in a combat role in the IDF since Oct. 7.
“It’s been so hard and I still had to put my head down and keep training and it’s all for this moment,” he told Reuters.
Originally Published Aug 12, 2024 10:43PM EDT
