Tom Reuveny celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men’s windsurfing iQFoil final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Aug. 3, 2024, in Marseille, France. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Tom Reuveny won Israel’s first gold medal of the Paris Olympics Saturday in the men’s iQFoil windsurfing final, while Sharon Kantor nabbed silver in the women’s event and artistic gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won silver in the floor exercise.

The three medals bring Israel’s total count in Paris to six, surpassing Israel’s previous record of four at a single Olympics, which it achieved at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Saturday was also the first time Israel won three medals in a single day.

Reuveny’s gold — Israel’s fourth ever — comes 20 years after his coach, Gal Fridman, won Israel’s first-ever gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games in the men’s sailboard competition. Israel last won a sailing medal in 2008.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Reuveny and Kantor each won their first-ever medals, while Dolgopyat had won gold in the men’s floor exercise in Tokyo. He is now the first Israeli athlete to medal at consecutive Olympics.

Israel has now won 19 Olympic medals, five of which have come in sailing events. Judo is Israel’s most decorated sport, with nine. Israel earlier won three medals in judo in Paris, two silvers and one bronze.

Reuveny mentioned that the country’s unprecedented success has come in wartime.

“My brother has been a combat soldier since the war began,” Reuveny, 24, told Reuters after his win.

“It was so hard to go training while everyone else was crying over lost people, dead people,” Reuveny added. “It’s been so hard and I still had to put my head down and keep training and it’s all for this moment.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Reuveny to congratulate him on his gold medal win, according to the Times of Israel, telling the windsurfer, “You made an entire nation happy, a nation that is at war and that is praying for the return of its hostages… you brought us a great light… you caused our national anthem to be played at this Olympics in Paris.”

Dolgopyat, who was born in what is now Dnipro, Ukraine, and moved to Israel when he was 12, said after his win that the feat brought him some much-needed relief. He had come to Paris as a medal favorite but underperformed in the qualifying round.

“I had difficult months in training and in the qualifying round I didn’t do so well and didn’t know if I’d pass,” Dolgopyat said, according to the Times of Israel. “I fell into a sort of depression. The team helped me and picked me up… I came today feeling very good… Now I’m the happiest I could be.”

Kantor, the first Israeli woman to win a sailing medal, celebrated her country’s overall success after her silver medal.

“Look how many medals we’ve won!” Kantor said. “First in judo and now here. It’s incredible.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount