David Kushnir (; J21 June 1931 – 18 October 2020) was an Israeli Olympic long-jumper and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

coach. He was born in

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

(now in Israel), and was Jewish. When Kushnir competed in the Olympics he was tall and weighed .

Track and field career

Kushnir won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the

broad jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

(also known as the long jump) at the 1953 Maccabiah Games. He competed for Israel at the 1956 Summer Olympics, at the age of 25, in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

in the Men's Long Jump, jumped a distance of 6.89 meters, but did not qualify for the finals, and came in 25th. Kushnir won the gold medal in the broad jump at the

1957 Maccabiah Games Twenty-one countries sent 980 athletes to compete in the 1957 5th Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish athletics competition similar to the Olympics. The opening ceremony on September 15, 1957, was held in Ramat Gan Stadium, with athletes para ...

. Kushnir also competed for Israel at the 1960 Summer Olympics, at the age of 29, in Rome, Italy, in the Men's Long Jump, jumped 7.20 meters, and came in 25th. He won the Israeli Championship in the long jump in 1960, 1961, 1963, and 1964. Kushnir coached the Israeli national track and field team from 1970 to 1982. At the 1978 World Veterans Championship (age 40–45), Kushnir won the broad jump. On top of being Israeli champion and national record holder in the long jump, Kushnir also won national championships in

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

, and

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

. He was the national record holder in triple jump (1954, 5 years) and

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

(1954, 6 years).

Football career

Kushnir played football for Hapoel Balfouria while the club played in the top division, scoring goals for the club in matches against

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. () is an Israeli professional football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. After winning their first championship in 1971, the club's golden period last ...

and Hapoel HaderaHapoel T.A. – Beitar T.A. 1:1
Al HaMishmar, 17 April 1955, Historical Jewish Press during the 1954–55 season.

After retirement

After his retirement, Kushnir moved into track and field coaching. His most prominent trainee was long jumper and triple jumper

Rogel Nachum Rogel Nachum (or Nahum, ; born 21 May 1967) is a retired Israeli triple jumper, whose personal best was 17.20 meters, achieved in June 1992 in Seville. Nachum participated in three Olympic Games: Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 where ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushnir, David Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Israel People from Afula Sportspeople from Northern District (Israel) Competitors at the 1957 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in athletics 1931 births 2020 deaths Israeli male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 1953 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel Hapoel Balfouria F.C. players Jewish Israeli sportspeople Jewish track and field athletes Israeli athletics coaches Men's association football players not categorized by position Israeli men's footballers 20th-century Israeli sportsmen Burials at South Cemetery in Israel