Israel scored its second Olympic medal on Saturday as the Jewish state's mixed judo team defeated the Russian Olympic Committee to win the bronze.
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The win followed a difficult week for Israeli judokas, who were handed one defeat after another in the Games, coming within reach of medals in all events but losing out to their rivals time and again.
The win brings Israel's overall tally of Olympic medals to 11.
The Tokyo Games are the first to feature the mixed team event in the consolation round for judo.
Congrats to Israel - bronze medal winners in the mixed team event!#StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | @Judo pic.twitter.com/ARd9Re7Lzv
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 31, 2021
In the battle for bronze, Israeli judoka Gili Sharir lost to Madina Taimazova, giving a 1:0 lead to the Russians.
Sagi Muki then evened the score, dealing ROC judoka Mikhail Igolnikov a defeat.
Raz Hershko went to the mat third, giving Israel the lead with a 2:1 score.
Peter Paltchik took the team up to a score of 3:1.
The Olympic medal was secured by female judoka Timna Nelson-Levy, who gave Israel a 4:1 win.
"Everyone gave their heart and soul and that is what we won here," Muki told reporters after the victory. "To come here after everyone failed in the individual events… it required a lot of strength"
Nelson-Levy noted, "We showed our worth as a team."
The week's poor performance at the Olympics saw many criticize Israeli judokas, considered among the nation's strongest hope for medals in the 2020 Games.
"This is a huge failure. Conclusions must be drawn as to how this collapse happened at the Olympics," an unnamed Israeli delegation official told local media.
"It can't be seen as one-time failure if all of our judokas lost to inferior rivals. This is a systemic issue," he said.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett congratulated the team, tweeting, "After Sagi Muki's loss last week, I spoke to him. It was important for me to tell him that I'm proud of him and the example he is for the youth. Today Muki and his teammates on the judo team showed us all how to pick yourself up from a fall! Way to go, Israel is proud of you!"
President Isaac Herzog also expresses pride in the team, tweeting, "What an exciting day for the Israeli judo team! The members of Israel's judo team went through arduous and challenging moments together and ... you brought immense honor to the State of Israel. We are all proud of you."
The series of individual defeats was also criticized by the Israeli Olympic Committee, which said in a statement that"conclusions will only be drawn at the end of the Games when we return to Israel."
Last week saw Israeli Olympian Avishag Samberg score Israel its first medal in the Tokyo Games, winning the bronze in taekwondo. The 19-year-old was the first taekwondoin to ever represent Israel in this sport in the Olympics.
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