By JPOST.COM STAFFYarden Gerbi(photo credit: Courtesy)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Yarden Gerbi on Wednesday morning for her bronze-medal win at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday in the women's under-63 kilogram judo competition."Congratulations, you played it big time," Netanyahu said. "We are all proud of you, you gave the whole country a wonderful feeling. Really, it's a a great achievement.""You're an Olympian!" he exclaimed, before taking the opportunity to extend his well-wishes to the rest of the Israeli delegation in Rio, and to express confidence that the team will bring more results.Gerbi thanked the PM for his blessings.She became the fourth Israeli judoka to take an Olympic medal, joining Yael Arad (silver medal – Barcelona 1992), Oren Smadja (bronze – Barcelona 1992) and Arik Ze’evi (bronze – Athens 2004). Israel’s four other medals came courtesy of Gal Fridman (bronze – Atlanta 1996, gold - Athens 2004), Michael Kolganov (bronze – Sydney 2000) and Shahar Zubari (bronze – Beijing 2008). Gerbi also became just the second Israeli woman to win a medal, joining Arad.Allon Sinai contributed to this report.