Abigail Klein Leichman
July 25, 2021

Israel won its first medal during the first full day of the Tokyo Olympics on July 24.

Avishag Semberg, 19, won a bronze medal in taekwondo in the women’s under-49kg category, defeating Turkey’s Rukiye Yıldırım 27-22.

This is Israel’s 10th Olympic medal in history and its first in taekwondo.

Also on Saturday, 17-year-old swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko set a new youth record in the 100-meter butterfly qualifier at 58.23 seconds. Although she is now only in 18th place overall, she will be competing each day of this week.

Anastasia Gorbenko set a youth record in the 100-meter butterfly qualifier at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo by Simone Castrovillari

Meanwhile, Israeli Olympians Misha Zilberman (men’s singles badminton), Baruch Shmailov (men’s judo) and Artem Dolgopyat (men’s artistic gymnastics) advanced in their events by besting their first opponents.

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