Danielle Frenkel ( he, דניאל פרנקל; born September 8, 1987) is an Israeli high jumper. She was the first female Israeli to clear 1.90 meters, and the only woman who cleared more than 1.90 meters in international competition.

Biography

Danielle Frenkel was interested in being a professional dancer, and trained for years as a teenager with the Bat-Dor Dance Company. Two months after she began her army service, as a guide at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

(a memorial to Jewish victims of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

), Israeli high jump coach Anatoly Shafran, who had seen her jump in a high school competition when she was 14, began an effort to convince her to jump competitively. She is a law student at the

Interdisciplinary Center Reichman University ( he, אוניברסיטת רייכמן) is Israel's only private university, located in Herzliya, Tel Aviv District. It was founded in 1994 as the IDC Herzliya private college, before being rebranded in 2021. It receives no ...

. Her nickname is the “Gravity Bender”.

High jumping career

In 2007, when Frenkel began her training with Shafran, she jumped 1.69 meters. In each of the next two years, she improved her personal best by 6 centimeters, jumping 1.81 meters in 2009. Her breakthrough year was 2010, in which she improved her personal best by 11 centimeters. After several improvements of her personal best, she won the national championships title for the first time, and also became the Israeli record holder with a jump of 1.89m, and few minutes later improved the fresh record to 1.91m. By this achievement, she qualified for the European Championships, held in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in late July. In the qualifying, she cleared every height in the first attempt, until she set another national record with a jump of 1.92m, and qualified for the Final, becoming the first ever Israeli female athlete to do so. Two days later in the final, her mediocre jump of 1.85m left her in 12th and last place. In January 2011, Frenkel twice set a new Israeli national indoor record, at 1.87 meters and 1.90 meters. In March, at the European Indoor Championships in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, she set an Israeli record of 1.94 meters in qualifying. In the final, she reached fourth place with a jump of 1.92m, another best ever achievement for an Israeli woman. In July 2011, she became Israeli national champion for the second consecutive year, with a jump of 1.89 m. In August, she had a disappointment at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Daegu, as she jumped only 1.85m and failed to qualify. Her season best outdoors was 1.90m, set in June at Neurim. In June 2011, Frenkel finished fourth in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

at 12.24 meters at the European Team Championships group three in Iceland.

Championships summary

References

External links

Facebook page
*
All Athletics bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frenkel, Danielle 1987 births Living people Israeli female high jumpers Israeli female triple jumpers Israeli Jews Jewish female athletes (track and field) Competitors at the 2011 Summer Universiade

Biography

High jumping career

Championships summary

See also

References

External links