Lihie Raz ( he, ליהיא רז; born 14 September 2003) is an Olympic

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

. Born in the United States, she represents Israel internationally. She won the

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 ...

on the floor exercise at the 2020 European Championships, which was Israel's first medal at the

European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The European Women's Gymnastics Championships are an artistic championships for female gymnasts from European countries organised by the European Union of Gymnastics. They are held annually, though rotate between two different formats. History ...

. She is also the 2019 and 2021 Israeli all-around champion. She represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished 59th in the all-around during qualifications, but did not advance to any finals. Raz represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and came in 16th in the Women's vault, and 31st in the Women's All-Around qualification with a score of 51.632, just missing the final that had a cutoff of 51.698.

Early life

Raz was born in Manhattan in New York City to Israeli parents Tami and chef Nitzan Raz, is Jewish, and immigrated with them to Israel when she was three months old. She grew up in Ramat HaSharon, a town just north of Tel Aviv. She performed elite gymnastics while at the same time attending a regular high school.

Career

Raz began gymnastics when she was six years old under coach Moran Klefner, who is still coaching her today.

2017–18; Maccabiah Games gold

At the

2017 Maccabiah Games The 2017 Maccabiah Games ( he, משחקי המכביה 2017), also referred to as the 20th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-20), were the 20th edition of the Maccabiah Games. They took place from 4 to 17 July 2017, in Israel. The Maccabiah ...

in Israel, Raz made her international debut. She won the

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 junior floor exercise, with a

score Score or scorer may refer to: *Test score, the result of an exam or test Business * Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio * Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company * Score Media, a former Canadian m ...

of 11.775. At the 2018 Israeli Cup, she won the junior all-around

. Then at the 2018 Austrian Team Open in Linz, Raz helped the Israeli team place 14th, and individually, she placed 17th in the all-around. At the Youth Olympic Games Qualifier in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, Azerbaijan, she placed 18th in the floor exercise and 26th in the all-around, and did not qualify for 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 ...

. At the 2018 Junior Israeli Championships, she placed fifth in the all-around. On July 14, 2018, in , Romania, Raz competed with the Israeli team in a friendly meet against Romania, and placed ninth in the all-around. She competed for Team Israel at the 2018 Junior European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, where the Israeli team finished 23rd. She placed ninth with the Israeli team at the 2018 Olympic Hopes Cup in

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

, Czech Republic. Then at the

2018 Voronin Cup The 2018 Mikhail Voronin Cup took place on December 12–13 in Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Mosk ...

in Moscow, Russia, she placed 10th in the all-around, fourth on vault, sixth on the floor exercise, and eighth on the uneven bars and balance beam.

2019; Israeli national champion

Raz made her senior international debut at the 2019 Austrian Team Open in Linz, where she won a silver medal in the vault behind Dutch Olympian

Eythora Thorsdottir Eythora Elisabet Thorsdottir ( is, Eyþóra Elísabet Þórsdóttir; born 10 August 1998) is a Dutch gymnast born to Icelandic parents. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she finished ninth in the individual all-around, the highest ...

, and placed eighth in the all-around and fourth with the Israeli team. Then at the 2019

Stella Zakharova Stella Zakharova (born 12 July 1963 in Odessa, Ukraine) is a retired gymnast who competed internationally for the former Soviet Union between 1977 and 1982. She was an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist in team competitions, and won in ...

Cup in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Ukraine, she won the bronze medal on the floor exercise behind Ukrainian Olympian Angelina Radivilova and Malaysian Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, and placed fourth in the vault. She placed sixth in the vault final at the 2019 Osijek World Challenge Cup in Croatia. At the 2019 Israeli Championships, she won her first national all-around title with a total score of 46.350, as she also won gold medals in the uneven bars and the floor exercise, and a silver medal in the vault. Then at the 2019 World Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany, she finished 82nd in the all-around which qualified her for the 2020 Olympics.

2020–21; European Championships bronze and Olympics

At the 2020 European Championships in

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

, Turkey, Raz won the bronze medal in the floor exercise event final with a score of 12.750 behind Turkey's

Göksu Üçtaş Şanlı Göksu Üçtaş Şanlı (; born August 30, 1990, in Şahinbey, Gaziantep Province, Turkey) is a retired Turkish artistic gymnast. She was the first Turkish female artistic gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games, doing so at the 2012 Olympic Ga ...

and Romania's Olympic bronze medalist Larisa Iordache. This made her Israel's first-ever medalist at the

. Additionally, she was the third reserve for the vault final, after finishing 11th in the qualification round. In February 2021, Raz won the bronze medal in the all-around, the gold medal in the vault, and the bronze medal in the all-around at the 2021 Israeli Winter Cup. She won a bronze medal in the vault at the 2021 German Olympic Trials in Munich behind German national champion

Sarah Voss Sarah Voss (born 21 October 1999) is a German artistic gymnast. She represented Germany at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is the 2019 and 2022 German all-around national champion and competed in the 2018 and 2019 World Championships. She was part ...

. She then qualified for the all-around final at the 2021 European Championships in Basel, Switzerland, and finished 22nd with a total score of 47.499. She won her second national all-around title at the 2021 Israeli Championships. Raz then represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She finished 15th in the vault with a score of 13.899, and 59th in the all-around during the qualification round with a total score of 50.399.

2022; Maccabiah Games gold

Raz finished sixth on the vault and seventh on the balance beam at the 2022 Varna World Challenge Cup in Bulgaria. Then at the 2022

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

World Challenge Cup in Slovenia, she finished fourth on floor exercise, and seventh on uneven bars and balance beam. At the

2022 Maccabiah Games The 2022 Maccabiah Games ( he, משחקי המכביה 2022) took place in Israel from July 14–25, 2022, and are also referred to as the 21st Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-21). The Maccabiah Games are open to Jewish athletes from arou ...

in Israel, at 18 years old she helped the Israeli team win gold, and individually, she swept the gold medals in the women's open events, winning six in all. In July she won the 2022 Israeli All-Around Championships in Tel Aviv. She qualified for the vault final at the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The tournament began three days after the conclusion of the 2022 Commo ...

in Munich, Germany, and finished seventh. She was initially the first reserve for the vault final at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, United Kingdom. After

Jessica Gadirova Jessica Gadirova (born 3 October 2004) is an English artistic gymnast of Irish birth and Azerbaijani descent, representing Great Britain internationally. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the ...

withdrew due to an ankle injury, Raz competed in the final and placed eighth.

2023; Luxembourg Open gold

Raz began the season at the 2023 Luxembourg Open, and won the gold medal in the vault final. The Israeli team finished third behind Italy and Spain, and Raz placed sixth in the all-around. She also finished fifth on floor exercise, seventh on uneven bars, and ninth on balance beam. She competed at the 2023 European Championships but did not qualify for any finals. At the 2023 Tel Aviv World Challenge Cup, Raz finished sixth on vault and floor exercise, and eighth on balance beam. Then at the RomGym Trophy in Bucharest, Romania, she placed sixth in the all-around and fifth in the uneven bars final. She finished 48th in the all-around at the 2023 World Championships in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, with a total score of 49.999. Raz earned an individual berth as the 13th-highest placing eligible gymnast.

2024; Paris Olympics

Raz represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She came in 16th in the Women's vault, and 31st in the Women's All-Around qualification with a score of 51.632, just missing the final that had a cutoff of 51.698.

Competitive history

Awards

Raz was selected for '' Forbes Israel'' 30 Under 30 list for 2021.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raz, Lihie Living people 2003 births 21st-century Israeli Jews American emigrants to Israel American people of Israeli descent Competitors at the 2017 Maccabiah Games Competitors at the 2022 Maccabiah Games Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2024 Summer Olympics Gymnasts from New York City Israeli female artistic gymnasts Israeli people of American-Jewish descent Maccabiah Games gold medalists for Israel Maccabiah Games medalists in gymnastics Olympic gymnasts for Israel People from Ramat HaSharon Sportspeople from Tel Aviv District