Ron Atias (; born 19 April 1995) is an Israeli Olympic

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

athlete who represented

Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee of Israel confirmed a team of 47 athletes, 22 men and 25 wom ...

Taekwondo career

Atias, who started in the sport at the age of seven, trains in

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

, Israel, which is his hometown. His club is Sharabi Martial Arts. In 2008, he won a

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 Youth Croatia Taekwondo Open in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. In 2009, Atias won a gold medal at the Cadet European Taekwondo Championships, in 2010 a gold medal at the senior Austrian Open in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, and in 2011 a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

at the Junior European Taekwondo Championships. He was picked by the

Olympic Committee of Israel The Olympic Committee of Israel (, ) is the recognized National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Israel, and the governing body of Olympic sports in Israel. The OCI's headquarters is located at the National Sport Center – Tel Aviv. History In ...

as the best 2011 Israeli Young Athlete. Atias then won gold medals at the youth 2012 Austrian Open and the 2013 senior Austrian Open. In 2014, as a senior, he won

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 ...

s in the Spanish Open, Israel Open, Serbia Open, and Croatia Open. In 2015, Atias won bronze medals in the Greece Open and the Israel Open. In 2016, he won the gold medal in the

2016 European Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament The 2016 European Qualification Tournament for Rio Olympic Games was held in Istanbul, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thr ...

, in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey, over silver medalist

Jesús Tortosa Jesús Tortosa Cabrera (born 21 December 1997 in Madrid) is a Spanish taekwondo athlete. Tortosa first drew attention in March 2014 when he won the gold medal in the under 51 kg division at the World Junior Taekwondo Championships held in ...

of Spain, who was world junior champion in 2014 in the under 51 kg division. That year Atias also won a silver medal in the under-58 kilogram event at the

2016 European Taekwondo Championships The 2016 European Taekwondo Championships was the 22nd edition of the European Taekwondo Championships, and was held in Montreux, Switzerland, from May 19 to May 22, 2016. Medal table Medal summary Men Women Participating nations * * * * ...

, which was held in

Montreux Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...

, Switzerland, losing in the finals to world No. 2 Rui Braganca of Portugal.

Olympics

Atias represented

on August 17 in taekwondo in the under-58 kilogram category. Atias is the first-ever Israeli male taekwondo athlete to compete in the Olympics. Former female Olympic taekwondo competitors for Israel were Maya Arusi (Athens, 2004) and Bat-El Gaterer (Beijing, 2008).

References

External links

*
Ron Atias
at the Israel Taekwondo Federation (archived) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atias, Ron Living people 1995 births Israeli male taekwondo practitioners Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Israel Taekwondo practitioners at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Ramla European Taekwondo Championships medalists 21st-century Israeli sportsmen