Alex Gilady (; 9 December 1942 – 13 April 2022) was an Israeli journalist and sports official.

Personal life

Gilady was born on 9 December 1942 in

Teheran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District. With a population of around 9.8 million in the city as of 2025, ...

, Iran. Gilady was the son of a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family who had fled during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, arriving in

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 ...

, with his parents, and grew up in

Ramat HaSharon Ramat HaSharon (, ) is an affluent city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon, Israel, Sharon region, bordering the cities of Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon, Hod-HaSharon to the east, and Herzliya and kibbutz ...

. Gilday studied at the Naval College,

Mevo'ot Yam Mevo'ot Yam (, ''lit.'' Sea Gate) is a youth village on the coast of Israel. Located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to Mikhmoret, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council. In it had a student population of ...

, Michmoret (Israel). Gilady died on 13 April 2022 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

, aged 79.

Career

From 1964, Gilady worked as a journalist.

Sports career

Gilady became a sports commentator for television in 1968. From 1981 to 1996, he was vice president of the channel

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

, and from 1985 to 2008 he was the Chairman of the Television Commission of the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Gilady was involved in the foundation of the Israeli media company Keshet from 1993 to 1999. In 1994, Gilady became a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC). He was a member of the Commission for Public Relations and Social Development through Sport and the Commission for Communication. In 1996, he was Senior Vice-president of NBC Sports. From 2004 to 2019, he was Chairman of the

International Basketball Federation The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the equipment and facilities required, ...

(FIBA) TV Council. In 2005 he was President of media company Keshet. In 2007, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy by the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

. In 2020, Gilady was vice-chairman for the Coordination Commission for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Controversies

In 2017, Gilady temporarily resigned from his office as president of the Keshet Group after a rape accusation was made against him. The crimes were said to have been committed sometime between the 1970s and 1990s and were denied by Gilady. In January 2018, Gilady submitted a lawsuit to a

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

court against

Oshrat Kotler Oshrat Kotler (Hebrew: אושרת קוטלר; born 25 July 1965) is an Israeli journalist, television news presenter and author. Biography Kotler, born Levi, comes from a Sephardi family from Bulgaria which spoke Ladino. She has written several b ...

, a broadcaster at Channel 10 Israel, and also against Neri Livneh, a journalist at the

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

newspaper. In 2019, he reportedly withdrew the lawsuit against the two women who publicly accused him of sexual harassment. Gilady was a supporter of the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

's decision to postpone the Tokyo Summer Games in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Honours

* Seven Academy Awards (Emmy) for Olympic Games in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

(1992),

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

(1996),

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

(2000),

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

(2002),

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

(2004),

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

(2008),

(2012) * 1970 – Award for the best journalistic story with the subject 'The Sea' * 1977 - Highest Israeli Broadcasting Association (IBA) award for producing President Sadat's first visit to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

* 1977 - 'Man of the year' award for becoming the first Israeli broadcasting from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

* 1979 - all electronic Media award for producing the

Eurovision song contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

in Israel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilady, Alex 1942 births 2022 deaths Mass media people from Tehran Israeli International Olympic Committee members Israeli sports executives and administrators Israeli journalists Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Deaths from lung cancer in England