Yarden Gerbi (or Jerbi, ; born 8 July 1989) is an Israeli former

judoka is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

world champion. She won an Olympic bronze medal competing for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in women's 63 kg judo. Gerbi won the gold medal at the

2013 World Judo Championships The 2013 World Judo Championships were held at the Ginásio do Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 26 August to 1 September. Schedule ''All times are local (Time in Brazil, UTC−3).'' Medal summary Medal table Men's events Wom ...

in the 63 kg category.Sinai, Allon
"Israel's Gerbi takes gold at Judo World Championships"
''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'', 29 August 2013. Retrieved on 30 August 2013. She won the Israeli championship five times by the age of 24, and was a silver medalist in the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games (), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Poli ...

Personal life

Gerbi was born in

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( ), officially Kfar Sava , is a List of Israeli cities, city in the Sharon plain, Sharon region, of the Central District (Israel), Central District of State of Israel, Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-l ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, to a family of Tunisian Jewish descent from

Djerba Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island h ...

. She was raised and also currently resides in

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

, Israel. Her nicknames are Jordan, Gerb, and Denush. She attended the

Open University of Israel The Open University of Israel (, ''Ha-Universita ha-Ptuha'') is a distance education, distance-education university in Israel. It is one of ten public universities in Israel recognized by the Council of Higher Education (CHE). Open University ...

, studying Economics and Management. On 27 September 2022, Gerbi came out as gay and revealed her then-ongoing relationship with photographer Dana Lavi, daughter of Israeli actor Amos Lavi. They split up the following year. In the summer of 2023 Gerbi began a relationship with Adi Imbar. The couple announced their engagement in April 2024.

Judo career

Early career

Gerbi, who began practicing judo at age 6, trains with club Meditav Netanya. , former coach of the Israeli women's national judo team, has been her trainer since childhood. In 2007, Gerbi won the Israel Championships. In 2008, Gerbi won the Israel Championships, the Under-23 Israel Championships, and took third in the 2008 European Junior Championships. In 2009, Gerbi won the Israel Championships and the Belo Horizonte World Cup, placed second in the

and took third place in the 2009 Qingdao Grand Prix. Gerbi came in second in the 2010 Qingdao Grand Prix. That year she also finished second in the Baku and Birmingham World Cups, third in the Warsaw World Cup and came in 7th place at the 2010 World Championships. In 2011, she won the Israeli Championships, came in second in the San Salvador and Miami World Cups, third in the 2011 Moscow Grand Slam and the 2011 World Masters in Baku, and fifth in the 2011 European Championships. Gerbi was eliminated in the third round of the 2011 World Championships and did not qualify to represent Israel at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2012, Gerbi won the Tashkent World Cup and the Israel Championships, took second in the 2012 European Championships in Russia, and took third in the 2012 Düsseldorf Grand Prix. In 2013, prior to the World Championships, Gerbi won the 2013 Baku Grand Slam and the 2013 Moscow Grand Slam, took second in the 2013 Samsun Grand Prix, third in the 2013 Düsseldorf Grand Prix and at the 2013 European Championships. She achieved a world ranking of No. 1 in May 2013.

2013 World Champion

In August 2013, at the age of 24, she won the gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro in the category 63 kg, defeating each of her five opponents unconditionally. She defeated No. 2-ranked Clarisse Agbegnenou of France, the European champion, in the final by dislocating her shoulder and rendering her unconscious with a

chokehold A chokehold, choke, stranglehold or, in Judo, shime-waza () is a general term for a grappling hold that critically reduces or prevents either air ( choking)''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1999). Oxford University press. . or blood ( s ...

in 43 seconds. She recorded an

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In judo In judo, an ''ippon'' may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the ...

in each of her five fights on the way to the championship. Commenting on the reaction from Israelis to her championship, she said: "I received three marriage proposals." Gerbi became the first Israeli to win a gold medal at the Judo World Championships. Israelis Yael Arad (1991 – bronze, 1993 – silver), Oren Smadja (1995 – silver), and Ariel Ze'evi (2001 – silver) had each previously won a silver medal in the championships, and Alice Schlesinger had most recently won a bronze medal in 2009; also Olympic medals, which is Gerbi's next goal, have been won by Arad (Barcelona 1992 – silver), Smadja (Barcelona 1992 – bronze), and Ze'evi (Athens 2004 – bronze). Gerbi was voted Israeli Sports Personality of the Year in 2013 by the readers of ''

''.

2014–15

At the 2014 World Championships in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, Gerbi won the silver medal after losing by an ippon to Frenchwoman Clarice Agbegnenou in the final of the 63 kg category. In December 2014, Gerbi was named Israeli Sportswoman of the Year. In 2015, Gerbi won a bronze medal at the

2015 European Games The 1st European Games (), also known as the 2015 European Games or Baku 2015 (), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the Europe ...

. On 17 October, Gerbi won a bronze medal in the 2015 Paris Grand Slam after defeating Miho Minei from Japan. Two weeks later on 31 October 2015, she won bronze again, this time in the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, after defeating Juul Franssen from the Netherlands.

Rio Olympics and retirement

On 9 August 2016, Gerbi won a bronze medal for her native Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (shared with Anicka van Emden). Prior to her win, she was ranked among the top 14 eligible female judokas in her category as of 30 May 2016. After losing to hometown Brazilian Mariana Silva in the quarter-finals, Gerbi won her next two

repechage Repechage ( , ; , ) is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well-known example is the wild card system. Types Different type ...

fights to win the bronze medal. Gerbi took part in the torch lighting ceremony at the 2017 Maccabiah Games on 6 July 2017. On 2 October of that year, Gerbi announced her retirement from judo.

Medals

Sources:

Media appearances

In 2020, Gerbi competed in the third VIP season of Israel's Survivor and finished in third place. In 2021, Gerbi began hosting the show on Channel 12. In 2024, Gerbi competed in the 10th season of Israel's

Rokdim Im Kokhavim Rokdim Im Kokhavim (, "Dancing with Stars") is the Israel, Israeli version of the British reality TV competition ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and is part of the ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchise. The show features local celebrity, celebrities par ...

('Dancing with the Stars'), where she was eliminated 13th (out of 21 couples), in the second round of the live show stage.

References

External links

* ''(archived)'' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerbi, Yarden 1989 births Living people Israeli female judoka Open University of Israel alumni Sportspeople from Netanya Israeli lesbian sportswomen Israeli people of Tunisian-Jewish descent Maccabiah Games silver medalists for Israel Competitors at the 2009 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in judo European Games bronze medalists for Israel European Games medalists in judo Olympic judoka for Israel Judoka at the 2015 European Games World judo champions Olympic bronze medalists for Israel Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in judo Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli Mizrahi Jews Survivor (Israeli TV series) contestants 21st-century Israeli sportswomen