Which Israeli athletes have a shot at the Olympic podium?
Which Israeli athletes have a shot at the Olympic podium?
ISRAEL21c looks at the Olympic and Paralympic athletes expected to have the best chance of winning a medal in Tokyo.
July 18, 2021, 10:00 am
Paralympic rower Moran Samuel and Olympic rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram, two of Israel’s leading medal contenders for the Tokyo Games, with Minister of Culture and Sports Hili Tropper and former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the President s Residence in Jerusalem on June 23, 2021. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90
Israel is sending its largest-ever Olympic delegation of 89 athletes to the Tokyo Olympics set for July 23 to August 8. And we’re sending 32 athletes to Tokyo for the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5.
How Israel became a judo superpower
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How Israel became a judo powerhouse at the Olympics
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Israel s Or Sasson celebrates after winning the bronze medal during the men s over 100-kg judo competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
JTA When he immigrated to Israel from his native Ukraine in the early 1990s, judo master Igor Romanitsky was already resigned to quitting the sport professionally and pursuing a medical career.
“Israel wasn’t known for its judo scene back then, and I had a medical degree,” Romanitsky, now 57, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I assumed my days as a judoka were over.”
But Romanitsky, a father of two from Modiin, was in for a surprise.