By Natalie Rosen
Over the summer, the 2024 Paris Olympics took place, bringing together thousands of the world’s best athletes, including many Jewish and Israeli athletes. While most Americans probably had their eyes on stars like Katie Ledecky or Simone Biles, I was watching for the stars of the Jewish world. Along with Jewish Americans, Israelis, who were both Jewish and non Jewish, competed at the Olympics. Israel had one of its largest teams ever this year made up of 88 athletes across 16 sports.
One of the youngest Americans to compete in the Paris Olympics was 17 year old Claire Weinstein. Born and raised near TLS in White Plains, New York, she grew up in a Reform Jewish household, and celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at Congregation Kol Ami. She swam for the Westchester Aquatic Club in her earlier years of swimming, but switched to a more intense team in Nevada in 2021. At age 15, she competed at world championships in Budapest, bringing home a gold medal on a relay team with big names like Katie Ledecky and Leah Smith. In June, she qualified for the Olympics in the 200 meter freestyle and the 4×200 meter freestyle relay. Although she did not earn an individual medal at the games, she won a silver medal on the relay team, coming in with the fastest split (personal time from her portion of the relay) on the team. Weinstein is now a senior in high school and has committed to swim Division 1 at University of California Berkeley next year.
One Israeli athlete who competed in the Olympics this summer is Artem Dolgopyat. Born in Ukraine to a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, Dolgopyat began gymnastics at a young age, eventually becoming a two-time national age group champion of Ukraine. At age 12 he and his family made Aliyah to Israel, where he continued to train. He began competing in international competitions in 2014 and continued through 2020 until the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 where he won a gold medal in the floor exercise, making the first Israeli to win a gold medal in gymnastics. He continued to train during the years between his time in Tokyo and Paris, and this year he received his second olympic medal on floor – this time a silver medal.
Jewish athletes did not only compete at the Olympics, but also at the Paralympics. One of the Jewish paralympians is a track and field athlete named Ezra Frech, who was born in Los Angeles, California. He was born without most of his left leg and throughout his childhood, loved to play sports as an outlet and distraction from the challenges of everyday life. At the 2024 US Paralympic trials (the competition to qualify for Paris), he broke his own world record in the high jump for his para classification (T63), going on to win a gold medal in that same event in Paris as well as a gold in the 100 meter dash. Not only is he an incredible athlete, Ezra Frech has also done extensive public speaking work focusing on disability awareness since he was 4 years old. In 2013, his family founded Angel City Sports, an organization that advocates for free access to sports and training for kids and adults with physical disabilities. He is also the first above knee amputee to commit to D1 College, starting at USC this year.
Another Israeli that competed at the Olympics was windsurfer Tom Reuveny. Tom was born in Ramat Gan, a city near Tel Aviv, and grew up participating in many sports such as cycling, swimming, tennis and surfing. He began windsurfing at 10 years old and went on to win a bronze medal at the 2016 youth world championships. He continued competing in international competitions after that, and was eventually selected for the Israeli olympic team. While he was not initially considered a medal contender, he proved everyone wrong when he won his first gold medal in Paris. In interviews post-Olympics, he dedicated his win to Israeli soldiers.
Another very talented athlete is wrestler, Amit Elor from Walnut Creek, California. Both of her parents are Israeli immigrants and all four of her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. She started wrestling at age 4 and won junior worlds twice. In 2022, she became the youngest world champion in American wrestling history, at 18 years old. Going into the Olympics, she had not lost an international match in any age group since 2019. At the Olympics, she won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling in the 68 kg weight class at 20 years old, making her the youngest female wrestler to represent the USA at the Olympics. In a post Olympic interview, Amit talked about representing both Americans and Israelis in the Olympics this year, and said that she hoped she could bring joy to Israel.
Though it is a difficult time for Israelis and Jews across the world, the 2024 Jewish and Israeli Olympic athletes are a beacon of light. They represent the endless perseverance and strength of our people. Am Yisrael Chai.
