Avishag Semberg (or Abishag Samberg, he, אבישג סמברג; born 16 September 2001) is an

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 ...

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

athlete. She was an

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 ...

bronze medalist 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 receive ...

for

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 ...

in the women's 49 kg competition. She won Israel's all-time tenth Olympic medal, and is the youngest Israeli to receive an Olympic medal, at the age of 19.

Early life

Semberg was born and raised in

Gedera Gedera, or less commonly known as Gdera ( he, גְּדֵרָה), is a town in the southern part of the Shfela region in the Central District of Israel founded in 1884. It is south of Rehovot. In , it had a population of . History Gedera ...

, to Israeli parents of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

descent and of both

Sephardi Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...

and

Mizrahi Jewish Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...

( Moroccan-Jewish) descent, Oren Semberg and Nili Cohen-Semberg. Her father is a lawyer. In 2015, at 13.5 years of age Semberg participated in the third season of the Israeli The Kids' Channel reality game show ''The Boys and The Girls'' (''HaBanim VeHaBanot''), and was the ninth-eliminated contestant, the last one right before the finale where her girl teammates have won. Semberg was

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

to the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

in 2020, serving as a soldier with the

Home Front Command The Home Front Command ( he, פיקוד העורף, ''Pikud HaOref'') is an Israel Defense Forces regional Command (military formation), command, created in February 1992 in response to the lessons of the Gulf War, She had an honorable discharge in November 2021 after completing her military enlistment. She trains at the Sharabi Martial Arts club in

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...

, Israel, where Semberg resides as well, coached by Israeli trainer Yechiam Sharabi.

Career

In 2013, Semberg 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 bee ...

in the Israel Cadets Open in the 37 kg weight class in

Ashdod Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterran ...

, Israel, and in 2015 she won a gold medal in the Israel Cadets Open in the 44 kg weight class in

, Israel. In 2016 Semberg won a

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 receive ...

at the youth World Taekwondo Championships in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

, Canada, in the 46 kg weight class. In 2017 she won a bronze medal in the European Youth Championships in the 46 kg weight class in

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 144 ...

, Cyprus. That year she also won a gold medal in the Israel Senior Open in the 46 kg weight class in Ramla, Israel. On 8 October 2018 she placed fifth at the Girls' 49 kg competition in the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina. Also that year, she won a gold medal in the 2018 Polish Youth Open in the 49 kg weight class in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland. In 2019 she won a bronze medal in the European Junior Championships in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

, Sweden, and gold medals in the Israel Senior Open and the Riga Senior Open, in the 49 kg weight class. In 2020 she won a gold medal in the European Clubs Senior Championships 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, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia, in the 49 kg weight class.

2020 Summer Olympics – Olympic bronze medal

On 7 May 2021 Semberg qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, by winning the gold medal in the

2021 European Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament The 2021 European Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament for the Tokyo Olympic Games took place in Sofia, Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Euro ...

. Participating in the women's 49 kg for

, Semberg beat Puerto Rican

Victoria Stambaugh Victoria Stambaugh (born 4 May 1993) is a Puerto Rican taekwondo practitioner. She is a two-time medalist at the Central American and Caribbean Games. She competed in the women's 49 kg event at the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru. In ...

in the qualification round, before losing to Thai

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

world champion

Panipak Wongpattanakit Panipak "Tennis" Wongpattanakit ( th, พาณิภัค วงศ์พัฒนกิจ; ; born 8 August 1997) is a Thailand, Thai taekwondo athlete. She is currently the top-ranked athlete in the women's 49kg. Career Panipak became a wo ...

in the round of 16. With Wongpattanakit progressing to the final, Semberg got to compete in 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 ...

, where she beat 8th-seeded

Trương Thị Kim Tuyền Trương Thị Kim Tuyền (born 2 January 1997) is a Vietnamese taekwondo practitioner. She won a silver medal in finweight at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships, after being defeated by Sim Jae-young in the final. She won a bronze medal ...

from Vietnam to qualify for the

match against Turkey's

Rukiye Yıldırım Rukiye Yıldırım (born February 12, 1991 in Ankara) is a European champion Turkish taekwondo practitioner competing in the finweight division. She is a graduate student in the School of Sports science at Selçuk University in Konya. She began ...

, whom Semberg beat, 27–22, earning Israel's first Olympic medal (all-time, tenth) in the 2020 Summer games. Semberg is also the youngest Israeli to win an Olympic medal, at age 19.

Personal life

Semberg is in a relationship with Israeli taekwondo athlete Nimrod Krivitzky since 2019.

References

External links