Gal Fridman (or Friedman, ; born September 16, 1975) is an Israeli windsurfer and Israel's first Olympic

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 ...

ist. Fridman won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. He is the first of two Israelis

athletes An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including trac ...

to win two Olympic Medals, and the first Olympic Gold medalist in Israeli history. His first name, Gal, means "wave" in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. He was born in Karkur, Israel, and lives close to the water in Sdot Yam, a nearby

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Early life and career

Fridman was born in Karkur,

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 an Ashkenazi Jewish family. The second of three children, Fridman was born to Dganit and Uri Fridman, and has an older sister, Maayan and a younger brother, Yuval. Growing up close to the Mediterranean Sea, Gal was introduced by his father to

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

. Fridman started sailing at age seven, and began racing when he was 11. He began competing internationally in youth categories while still in school. After his service in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

he began competing as an adult. In 1995, he won the ASA Boardsailing Championship in Eilat, Israel. In 1999, he won the International ASA Windsurfing Championship in Eilat. In 2002, he won the Mistral World Championship held in Pattaya,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and was ranked No. 1 on the International Sailing Federation rankings in February 2003.

1996 Summer Olympic Games, Atlanta

At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, Fridman won a bronze medal for Israel in the Olympic Sailing Windsurfing Event (Mistral Men's Windsurfing category), and was named Israeli Sportsman of the Year.

2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney, Australia

Despite his form in the previous years, he failed to win the Israeli Olympic Trials and did not represent Israel in the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Amit Inbar represented Israel in the 2000 Olympics and finished 7th overall.

2004 Summer Olympics, Athens, Greece

Back on form leading up to the 2004 Olympics, Fridman was one of Israel's Olympic Team favorites to win a Medal (along with judoka Ariel Ze'evi and athlete Aleksander Averbukh), and prepared intensively for the Olympic Games two years prior to the event. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, Fridman again competed in the Olympic windsurfing discipline of sailing ( Mistral Windsurfer Class), a discipline that included 11 races. Fridman was coached by retired Olympic windsurfing silver (1992) and bronze medalist (1988) Michael Gebhardt from the U.S. (''Note'': the worst race score is thrown out) In the last race on August 25, 2004, Fridman finished a hard-fought 2nd, exploiting a tactical mistake made by Brazilian leader Ricardo Santos and beat Greek windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis to end the Olympic Regatta with the lowest score of 42 points, which secured his 2004 Olympic gold medal in windsurfing. Olympic sailing events scores are tabulated with the lowest score (best results combines) winning. Fridman won Israel's first Olympic gold medal. Fridman dedicated his medal to the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes

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by terrorists during the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

. Final results 1st: Gal Fridman –

(Gold medal) 2nd: Nikolaos Kaklamanakis – Greece (Silver medal) 3rd: Nick Dempsey – Great Britain (Bronze medal) 4th: Ricardo Santos – Brazil 5th: Przemysław Miarczyński – Poland

2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing, China

Approaching the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Fridman found it hard to adjust to the new Olympic Windsurf board model, the RS:X Neil Pryde windsurfer. Also he had some crucial equipment failures at key Olympic trail regattas and failed to qualify for the 2008 Israeli Olympic Sailing Team. Shahar Tzuberi took his place and went on to win the 2008 Olympic bronze medal for Israel.

Later years; cycling and coaching

Fridman, an avid cyclist, won a gold medal in the Israeli cycling championship in 2005. In 2007, he won the Men's Windsurfer New Year International Regatta in Limassol,

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. After 2008, Fridman retired from competition in windsurfing and focused on coaching up-and-coming Israeli windsurfers. He guided Nimrod Mashiah to the silver medal in the 2009 World Championship. He coaches Tom Reuveny, who became the Olympic champion winning the gold medal, at 24 years of age, representing Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in windsurfing in the Men's iQFoil in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, France.Joshua Halickman (August 4, 2024
"Golden Tom Reuveny shocks the nation; You brought us a great light. our anthem was played, Hatikva, hope, for the first time in these Olympics in France, President Isaac Herzog told Tom Reuveny,"
''The Jerusalem Post''. Fridman is a Vegan.

Hall of Fame

In 2005, Fridman was named to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Achievements

References

External links

* * * *
Gal Fridman
at the Jewish Agency for Israel (archived)
Gal Fridman
at the Jewish Virtual Library *
Gal Fridman Achieves Olympic Glory
video at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Fridman, Gal 1975 births Living people Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli windsurfers Jewish sailors (sport) Olympic bronze medalists for Israel Olympic gold medalists for Israel Olympic medalists in sailing Olympic sailors for Israel Israeli male sailors (sport) People from Pardes Hanna-Karkur Sportspeople from Haifa District Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Mistral One Design Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Mistral One Design Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics