Tohar Butbul (; born 24 January 1994) is an Israeli retired Olympic

judoka is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, 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 Encyc ...

. He competes in the under 73 kg weight category, where he won silver medals at the 2019 World Masters and the 2021 European Championships, and won bronze medals in the 2017 Paris Grand Slam and 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam. As of March 2018 he was ranked #9 in the world in the 73 kg division. He was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Butbul represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo in the men's 73 kg event in which he came in ninth, and in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth.

Early life

Butbul was born in Tzoran, Israel.

Judo career

Butbul started training in judo when he was five years old at Israeli Olympic bronze medalist

Oren Smadja Shay-Oren Smadja (; born 20 June 1970) is an Israeli judo coach and former competitive judoka. Smadja won an Olympic bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics, making him the first Israeli male to win an Olympic medal, and the second Isra ...

's school.

2014–20; European Junior Championships bronze medal

On 19 September, Butbul took part in the 2014 European Junior Championships which was held in Bucharest, Romania, and won a bronze medal after defeating Nuno Saraiva of Portugal in the medal match. He won the gold medal in the 2014 European Cup U21 Lignano. He also won the 2014 Israeli U21 Championships and the Israeli Championships in

Ra'anana Ra'anana () is an affluent city in the southern Sharon, Israel, Sharon Plain of the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, 1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where a ...

. Butbul's first medal at a senior competition came at the 2016 European Open Sofia in Bulgaria in January as he won a bronze after he defeated Sam van 't Westende of the Netherlands. On 11 November, Butbul participated in the 2016 European U23 Championships in Tel Aviv and won the silver in the 73 kg weight category after losing to

Hidayat Heydarov Hidayat Heydarov (, born 27 July 1997) is an Azerbaijani judoka in men’s 73 kg. He is a four-time European Judo Champion (2017, 202224). In 2024, he won the Gold Medal in the Olympic Games in Paris, the World Championships in Abu Dhabi and t ...

of Azerbaijan in the final. On 11 February, Butbul took part at the prestigious 2017 Paris Grand Slam for the first time and won a bronze medal. In the quarter-final match he defeated local French Loïc Korval but lost in the semi-final to Japan's Soichi Hashimoto. He then battled for the bronze against Giyosjon Boboev of Uzbekistan and won after he got a

waza-ari is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon'' or ''waza-ari'' contest, usually judo, karate, or jujutsu. ''Waza-ari'' in judo A ''waza-ari'' is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in judo, th ...

in golden score time. He also won the 2017 Israeli Championships in Ra'anana. In April, Butbul won the bronze medal at the 2017 Antalya Grand Prix in Turkey after he defeated

Rok Drakšič Rok Drakšič (born 2 January 1987 in Griže, Žalec, Slovenia) is a Slovenian judoka.

of Slovenia. Butbul participated in the 2017 European Championships held in Warsaw, Poland, and finished in 5th place after he lost in the semi-final to Russia's

Musa Mogushkov Musa Khozh-Akhmatovich Mogushkov (; born 6 February 1988) is a Russian judoka. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he competed in the Men's 66 kg, but was defeated in the second round. He also competed in the men's 73 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olymp ...

and in the bronze medal match to

Tommy Macias Tommy Macias (born 20 January 1993) is a Swedish judoka. He is the 2018 and 2017 European bronze medalist in the 73 kg division. In 2018, he won the Grand Prix in Antalya and Cancun. He also took the bronze in Abu Dhabi Grand Slam and Osak ...

of Sweden. On June, he won the silver medal at the 2017 Cancún Grand Prix in Mexico. On October, he took part in the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the United Arab Emirates and won a bronze medal. Butbul won bronze medals at the 2018 Zagreb Grand Prix in Croatia and in the 2018 Düsseldorf Grand Slam in Germany. Butbul won the gold medal at the 2019 Zagreb Grand Prix, silver medals at the 2019 World Masters in Qingdao in China and the 2019 Baku Grand Slam in Azerbaijan, and a bronze medal at the 2019 Tel Aviv Grand Prix. He won a silver medal at the 2019 New York Open Team Championships. He also won the 2019 Israeli Championships in Tel Aviv.

2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021); bronze medal

Butbul 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 repre ...

. Competing in the men's 73 kg weight category, Butbul was to start his competition fighting the winner of a match between Algerian

Fethi Nourine Fethi Nourine (; born 14 June 1991) is an Algerian judoka, who has competed in the under 73 kg weight category, and won three African Judo Championships. Nourine has been suspended by the International Judo Federation until July 2031 for avoi ...

and Sudanese Mohamed Abdalarasool – who both withdrew instead of facing an Israeli opponent in order to express solidarity with Palestine. Advancing without a fight to the round of 16, Butbul faced Moldova's Victor Sterpu, the 2020 European champion, and beat him with an ippon. At the quarterfinals, he lost to the South Korean 2018 world champion

An Chang-rim An Chang-rim (; born 2 March 1994) is a South Korean retired judoka. An was the world champion in the lightweight division in 2018, He began his rise as one of judo's top lightweights by becoming junior World Champion. It was followed by a two- ...

, keeping a chance to win bronze through the repechage. Losing in the repechage to the Canadian 2016 Pan American champion Arthur Margelidon, Butbul finished the competition in seventh place. In the mixed team event, Butbul was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal. He competed three times and won one of his matches.

2021–present; European Championships silver medal

Butbul won the silver medal in the 2021 European Championships in Lisbon in Portugal. He also won a bronze medal at the 2021 Tel Aviv Grand Slam in Israel. Butbul won one of the bronze medals in his event at the 2022 Tel Aviv Grand Slam held in Israel. Butbul also won bronze medals in the 2022 Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam in Mongoloia and in the 2022 Budapest Grand Slam in Hungary. Butbul won the gold medal in the 2023 Linz Grand Prix in Austria in May. Butbul won a bronze medal at the 2024 Tbilisi Grand Slam in Georgia in March.

2024 Paris Olympics

Butbul represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo in the men's 73 kg event, where he won his first match against

Messaoud Dris Messaoud Redouane Dris ( Arabic: مسعود رضوان دريس; born 13 September 2001) is an Algerian judoka. He was ranked fourteenth in the lightweight division in May 2024. Career Dris started his career with in Oran, Algeria. In January ...

of Algeria who was disqualified, lost his second match to world champion

of Azerbaijan who went on to win the gold medal, and came in ninth. He also competed in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth."Ryan Gaydos (July 29, 2024)
"Algerian judoka faces investigation after missing weight before match against Israeli opponent,"
''Fox News''.

Titles

Source:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Butbul, Tohar 1994 births Living people European Games competitors for Israel Israeli male judoka Israeli Mizrahi Jews Jewish Israeli sportspeople Judoka at the 2019 European Games Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in judo Olympic bronze medalists for Israel Olympic judoka for Israel Olympic Games controversies Sportspeople from Central District (Israel) 21st-century Israeli sportsmen