Leah Goldstein (born February 4, 1969, in
Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada) is a professional Canadian-
Israeli
road racing cyclist
Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...
, former 1989 World Bantamweight
Kickboxing
Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...
Champion, and Israel's 1998
Duathlon champion.
In 2021, she became the first woman to win the overall solo division of the
Race Across America (RAAM).
Early and personal life
Born in
Vancouver, Canada, to Israeli parents, Goldstein was raised in Israel when her family made ''
aliyah
Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...
''.
At the age of 17 she won the Bantamweight World Kickboxing Championship.
She spent 9 years in the Israeli commandos and secret police. She returned to Canada in the late 1990s.
Goldstein lives in
Vernon, British Columbia.
Career
Kickboxing
A natural athlete, at 17 years of age Goldstein won the 1989 World Bantamweight
Kickboxing
Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...
Championship.
Duathlon
Goldstein was Israel's 1998
duathlon (run-bike-run) champion.
Shortly before the
2004 Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
, she broke her hand in a race in
Pennsylvania. And then in 2005, after winning 9 of her first 11 races she was involved in a horrific crash during the Cascade Classic that almost ended her career. She was hospitalized for two and a half months and told she would never walk without a cane.
Cycling
In 2008 Goldstein won the Israeli national women's road cycling championships in both
time trials and
road racing
Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...
. In 2009 she repeated as
national champion in both events.
In 2011, Goldstein won the women's solo category of
Race Across America (RAAM). In 2019, she came in second in the women's division and fifth overall in RAAM. In June 2021, she won the overall solo division for this 3,000 mile race in 11 days, three hours. and three minutes.
Book
Goldstein wrote a book about her life entitled ''No Limits; The Powerful True Story of Leah Goldstein-World Champion Kickboxer, Ultra Endurance Cyclist, Israeli Undercover Police Officer'' (2016).
[Leah Goldstein ((201]
''No Limits; The Powerful True Story of Leah Goldstein-World Champion Kickboxer, Ultra Endurance Cyclist, Israeli Undercover Police Officer''
/ref>
Speaker
In February 2024, Goldstein became the topic of controversy when she was removed from her spot as keynote speaker at an Ottawa International Women’s Day event, after she had accepted an invitation, as a result of her time in the IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
.["Former B.C. professional cyclist Leah Goldstein removed from event because of past Israel Defence Force service"]
''Canadian Cycling Magazine'', 18 February 2024. Goldstein noted: "As a Jewish woman, I would never be offended if a Palestinian woman were to speak about her obstacles and life journey. I thought that’s what women were supposed to do for each other – listen and support!”[ ]Deborah Lyons
Deborah Lyons is a Canadian diplomat, formerly Canada's ambassador to Israel. Before that she was Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan. She was the head of mission at the Embassy of Canada, Kabul. She was the only female ambassador in Kabul. On J ...
, Canada’s former ambassador to Israel and the Liberal-appointed special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, called it “just another example of the erasure and silencing of Jews going on across Canada and around the world."
Results
1989
*1st Inaugural Kfar Maccabiah Biathlon, Israel
1998
*1st Israeli Duathalon Championships
1999
*1st BC Road Championships
*1st Women’s Tour de France – Domestique
2000
*3rd in National Championship, Road, ITT, Elite, Canada (F) (CAN)
2001
*3rd in National Championship, Road, ITT, Elite, Canada (F) (CAN)
2002
*2nd in Stage 1 Tour de Toona (F) (USA)
*2nd in National Championship, Road, ITT, Elite, Canada (F) (CAN)
2003
*3rd in Stage 1 Tour of the Gila (F) (USA)
2005
*1st in Stage 2 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*3rd in Stage 4 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*1st in Stage 3 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*1st in Stage 5 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*1st in General Classification Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
2006
*2nd in Stage 4 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*3rd in Stage 6 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*1st in General Classification Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
2007
*1st in Stage 4 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*2nd in Stage 5 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*1st in General Classification Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*1st in National Championship, Road, ITT, Elite, Israel (F) (ISR)
*1st in National Championship, Road, Elite, Israel (F) (ISR)
*2nd in Tour de Gastown (F) (CAN)
*2nd in Stage 3 Tour de Delta (F) (CAN)
*2nd in General Classification Tour de Delta (F) (CAN)
2008
*3rd in Stage 1 San Dimas Stage Race
The San Dimas Stage Race is a stage cycling race held annually in the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern po ...
(F), Glendora (USA)
*1st in Stage 1 Tour of the Gila (F), Mogollon R.R. (USA)
*2nd in Stage 3 Tour of the Gila (F) (USA)
*1st in General Classification Tour of the Gila (F) (USA)
*1st in Stage 4 Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*3rd in General Classification Mount Hood Classic (F) (USA)
*1st in National Championship, Road, ITT, Elite, Israel (F) (ISR)
*1st in National Championship, Road, Elite, Israel (F) (ISR)
2009
*1st in National Championship, Road, ITT, Elite, Israel (F) (ISR)
*1st in National Championship, Road, Elite, Israel (F) (ISR)
2010
*1st Solo Woman (2nd overall) – Race Across Oregon
*1st Solo Woman + new record 2nd overall – Ring of Fire
2011
*1st Solo Woman – Race Across America (RAAM) – Best Overall Female, Best in Age Group, Queen of the Mountains, Queen of the Prairies, and Rookie of the year.
2012
*1st Solo Woman (2nd overall) RAW – New time record
2019
*2nd Solo Division and 5th overall RAAM – Queen of the Prairies
2021
*1st Overall Solo Division RAAM – 1st woman in 39-yr history to win Overall Solo Division – Queen of the Mountains – Queen of the Prairies
2022
*1st Overall Hoodoo 500 – Broke previous record
*1st Solo Women RAW (Race Across the West) – New women’s time record
2023
*2nd Women’s Solo RAAM (Race Across America) 4th Overall in 10 days 8 hours – Broke personal record by 10 hours – Queen of the Mountains – Queen of the Prairies
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Leah
1969 births
Living people
21st-century Canadian women writers
21st-century Israeli women writers
Canadian emigrants to Israel
Canadian female cyclists
Canadian people of Israeli descent
Cyclists from British Columbia
Duathletes
Israeli female cyclists
Israeli female kickboxers
Jewish Canadian sportspeople
Jewish Israeli sportspeople
Sportspeople from Vancouver