Tom Reuveny won the gold medal in Men’s Windsurfing at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, marking Israel’s first gold medal in this competition and fourth overall in the country’s Olympic history.
This capped a historic day, as Israel captured two other medals: Sharon Kantor, 21, won a silver in sailing and Artem Dolgopyat a silver in gymnastics. His coach said that the gymnast will continue to train for the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, Ynet reported.
Overall, Israel has won 19 medals in its history, including six in this year’s competition, all in the past three days – as many as the country won in 2016 and 2020 combined – making it already the best performance in Olympic history for the Jewish state.
Reuveny, 24, won the medal in Marseille 20 years after his coach, Gal Friedman, won it himself in Athens. “I believed in him all the way. I had a good feeling even before the competition,” Israeli media quoted Friedman as saying. “All week, I told him that he has it and he just needs to take it, not that anyone here gives gifts. We saw how the competitors lose it under pressure. In terms of pressure, we are in the right place: We handled it well.”
This comes after the Reuveny and Kantor were supposed to compete in the finals on Friday, but these were postponed due to weather conditions that did not allow the competition to take place.
Dolgopyat, who won a gold medal four years ago, became the first Israeli to win a medal in back-to-back Olympics when he captured the silver, only losing to his Filipino competitor Carlos Edriel Yulo with a score of 15. Dolgopyat scored 14.966 in his performance.
Reuveny disconnects from his surrounding environment a day before the competitions in order to concentrate, according to N12. “We are insanely proud of him,” his family said. “From the age of 10, he gave so much to reach this moment. We saw him from the sidelines, working and training endlessly. We will just say that we are happy that he brought pride to the State of Israel.”
Four hours after the match, the ceremony was held marking Reuveny’s victory, where the national anthem “Hatikvah” played.
Statements by the athletes, families
Reuveny told Reuters after coming ashore that winning gold for Israel in the men’s windsurfing means far more than Olympic glory because of the war in Gaza, saying that “my brother has been a combat soldier since the war began... it’s much bigger than me [winning] this event and it feels amazing.
“It was so hard to go training while everyone else was crying over lost people, dead people. It’s been so hard and I still had to put my head down and keep training and it’s all for this moment,” said the visibly emotional windsurfer.
Just before the finals began, Sharon Kantor’s mother said in an interview with Israeli Sports Channel 5: “She is fulfilling herself, doing something she loves very much. She has a passion for sailing. She really wanted to participate in this final day and show what she’s capable of.
“I spoke to her last night, and she was completely calm. She is a calm child. She’s having fun and has a lot of joy in her heart. She wanted to go out and compete.”
A few moments after her victory, Sharon said: “I am so happy. I can’t believe it. I felt good. I am thrilled and so happy for the country. What a joy.” When speaking about the training and reaching this stage, she added: “It requires a lot. I am glad that the association supports me. The Olympic Committee is always there. I have an amazing team training with me 24/7. All of this is thanks to them. I’m crazy happy.”
On the significance of her victory as a female athlete, Sharon noted “It has meaning, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to do it. It’s exciting to be a woman winning a medal, and now in sailing, it’s just crazy. The number of Israelis here with the Israeli flag is so unusual in the landscape.” Kantor also thanked her role model Lee Korzitz, who has won four Windsurfing World Championships, Israeli media reported.
Dolgopyat said at a press conference after winning second place that he “had a difficult few months in training – and in the qualifiers, I didn’t give a good performance, and I didn’t know if I would make it. I went into a kind of depression,” Ynet reported.
“The team helped me prepare and picked me up. After I made it to the finals, I realized that I could do it with a very good feeling – that I could represent Israel as the best in the world.”
Reactions to the victory
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid took to X to congratulate the two athletes, saying "We are proud of Reuveny and Kantor, which gives us a lot of pride during this period."
Herzliya mayor Yariv Fisher also congratulated Reuveny, as the athlete was part of the city's sailing club, saying "A great honor to the city of Herzliya for Tom's tremendous achievement. How nice that there is also a reason to be happy these days. We are proud of Tom and look forward to celebrating together with him when he returns to Israel."
Israeli President Isaac Herzog congratulated the athletes who won Olympic medals, saying, "You are champions and inspiring! You have brought immense pride to the State of Israel! Tom, you raised the flag as high as possible, and thanks to you, our national anthem was played for the first time at the Olympic Games this year!"
Israeli Olympic Committee CEO Gilad Lustig congratulated Dolgopyat on winning a silver medal, telling Ynet that “it’s a dream weekend, but we always remember the hostages. Everywhere they are with us. We always believed in the goals we set.”
Jerusalem Post Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.