Shira Rishony ( he, שירה ראשוני, born February 21, 1991) is an Israeli

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

lightweight

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, 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 Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

. She competed at U48 kg (under 106 pounds). She competed for

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 ...

and at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Early and personal life

Rishony was born in Holon,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. At the age of five, she was sent by her mother to learn

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

, despite her desire to learn

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, 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 Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

. After two years, as she still insisted on learning judo, her mother finally gave in and allowed her to take part in the sport. Her sisters are named Rotem and Maya. Their grandfather is named Muki. She resides in

Even Yehuda Even Yehuda ( he, אֶבֶן יְהוּדָה) is a town in the central Sharon region of Israel east of Netanya. In it had a population of . History The area of Even Yehuda has been inhabited intermittently since the Middle Paleolithic age, wit ...

, Israel, near the

Wingate Institute , image_name = Wingate Institute (3144).jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption = , latin_name = , motto = , mottoeng = , established = 1957 , closed = ...

Judo career

Rishony won the Israel U48 Women's Judo Championship in 2009 and 2012, won the

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, e ...

in the competition in 2014, and won the bronze medal in 2007 and 2011. In 2009, Rishony won gold medals in the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), 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 Ol ...

and the Junior Tour U20 Izmir 'Cehat Sener'. In 2012, she won the gold medal in the IJF World Cup

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

, and took the bronze medals in the World Cup

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and the World Cup

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. In 2013 Rishony won the gold medal at the Tashkent Grand Prix, and the bronze medal at Almaty Grand Prix, but was injured in a competition in Germany and lost six months of training and competition. In 2014, Rishony won the gold medal at the European Open in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

, and bronze medals at the Jeju Grand Prix and the Pan American Open San Salvador. In 2015, she won the bronze medal at the Grand Slam of Paris. In May 2015, she finished in 5th place at the World Masters in Rabat. In 2016, she won the silver medal at the Havana Grand Prix. Rishony, ranked 20th in the world, competed for

in Women's Judo 48 kg, taking the additional place of Europe. In her first bout she was deemed to have illegally touched her opponent's leg with her elbow in her match against Ukrainian Maryna Cherniak, and was disqualified for illegal use of her elbow at 2:10 of her first bout. After the loss, she admitted "I still don’t understand why I was disqualified." In tears, Rishony said: "I’m still in shock, I felt I was ready and it hurts me that I couldn’t give my all and that it all ended before it really began... I was surprised by the decision of the judge... It’s hard to put in words how much you give and how much you sacrifice and how much you dream of this moment. You certainly don’t imagine it ending like this." Rishony represented

Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with its largest contingent to date − a delegation of 90 athletes, 55 men and 35 women, who competed in 15 different sports. This was almost double the previous number of 47 athletes who repr ...

, competing at the women's 48 kg weight category. In her first match, she beat Colombia's

Luz Álvarez Luz Adiela Alvarez Salazar (born February 20, 1987, in Valle del Cauca Department) is a female judoka from Colombia. Bio Alvarez is a member of Liga Vallecaucana de Judo club and trains with world champion and Olympian Yuri Alvea ...

by ippon, advancing to the round of 16. There, she submitted Spaniard 2021 World Championships bronze medalist Julia Figueroa who was seeded 5th in the Olympics. In the Quarterfinals, Rishony lost to Mongolian former world champion Mönkhbatyn Urantsetseg, moving her to compete for a chance to win bronze through the

Repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") 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 car ...

. There, Rishont beat Taiwanese

Lin Chen-hao Lin Chen-hao (born 26 October 1997) is a Taiwanese judoka. She competed in the women's 48 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. Lin is a bronze medalist from the 2021 Asian-Pacific Judo Championships in the 48 kg cate ...

, advancing to fight for the bronze medal. She lost the bronze medal match to Ukrainian former two-times world champion

Daria Bilodid Daria Hennadiyivna Bilodid ( uk, Дар'я Геннадіївна Білодід; born 10 October 2000) is a Ukrainian judoka. She is a two-time world champion (2018, 2019), a three-time European champion (2017, 2019, 2024) and won a bronze me ...

, finishing in fifth place.

Titles

Source:

Israeli championships

Partial list: : 2009 : 2012 : 2016 : 2017 : 2019 : 2014 : 2015 : 2007 : 2010 : 2011

References

External links

* * *
Shira Rishony
at the

European Judo Union The EJU consists of 51 national Judo federations/associations, and is itself recognised by the IJF as one of five continental unions. The organisation of the administration of Judo is based on a pyramid system of regulations, with the IJF the wo ...

*
Rio bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rishony, Shira 1991 births Living people Israeli female judoka Judoka at the 2015 European Games European Games competitors for Israel Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of Israel Judoka at the 2019 European Games Sportspeople from Holon Israeli Jews Jewish sportspeople Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in judo Olympic bronze medalists for Israel 20th-century Israeli women 21st-century Israeli women