Gal Fridman (or Friedman, he, גל פרידמן; born September 16, 1975) is an Israeli windsurfer and Israel's first

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 ...

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 ...

ist. Fridman 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 ...

in the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics, and his gold medal in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. He is the first of two Israelis

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

to win two Olympic Medals, and the first Olympic Gold medalist in Israeli history. His first name, Gal, means "wave" in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. He was born in

Karkur, Israel Pardes Hanna-Karkur ( he, פַּרְדֵּס חַנָּה-כַּרְכּוּר) is a town in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of . History An Arab village named Karkur had stood at this location by the time the Palestine E ...

, and lives close to the water in Sdot Yam, a nearby

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Early life and career

Fridman was born in

Karkur Pardes Hanna-Karkur ( he, פַּרְדֵּס חַנָּה-כַּרְכּוּר) is a town in the Haifa District of Israel. In it had a population of . History An Arab village named Karkur had stood at this location by the time the Palestine Ex ...

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 ...

, to an

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 ...

family. The second out of three children, Fridman was born to Dganit and Uri Fridman, and has an older sister named Maayan and a younger brother named Yuval. Growing up close to the Mediterranean Sea, Gal was introduced by his father to

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. Fridman started sailing at age seven, and began racing when he was 11. He began competing internationally in youth categories while still at school. After his service in 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 ...

he began competing as an adult. In 1995, he won the ASA Boardsailing Championship in

Eilat, Israel Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jorda ...

. In 1999, he won the International ASA Windsurfing Championship in Eilat. In 2002, he won the Mistral World Championship held in Pattaya,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, and was ranked #1 on the

International Sailing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

rankings in February 2003.

1996 Summer Olympic Games, Atlanta

At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, Fridman won a bronze medal for Israel in the Olympic Sailing Windsurfing Event (Mistral Men's Windsurfing category), and was named Israeli Sportsman of the Year.

2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney, Australia

Despite his form in the previous years, he failed to win the Israeli Olympic Trials and did not represent Israel in the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Amit Inbar represented Israel in the 2000 Olympics and finished 7th overall.

2004 Summer Olympics, Athens, Greece

Back on form leading up to the 2004 Olympics, Fridman was one of Israel's Olympic Team favorites to a win a Medal (along with

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

Ariel Zeevi Ariel "Arik" Ze'evi ( he, אריאל "אריק" זאבי, born 16 January 1977) is a retired Israeli dan 6 black belt in Judo. He had a long and successful career competing in half-heavyweight Judo competitions. He is an Olympic bronze medal fina ...

and athlete Aleksander Averbukh), and prepared intensively for the Olympic Games two years prior to the event. At the

2004 Summer 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), ...

, Fridman again competed in the Olympic Windsurfing Discipline of Sailing ( Mistral Windsurfer Class), a discipline that included 11 races. Fridman was coached by retired Olympic Windsurfing Silver (1992) and bronze medalist (1988) Michael Gebhardt from the US. (''Note'': the worst race score is thrown out) In the last race on August 25, 2004, Fridman finished a hard-fought 2nd, exploiting a tactical mistake made by Brazilian leader Ricardo Santos and beat Greek windsurfer

Nikolaos Kaklamanakis Nikolaos "Nikos" Kaklamanakis ( el, Νικόλαος Κακλαμανάκης, born August 19, 1968, in Athens) is the Greece, Greek Gold-medal winner who lit the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. He was ...

in order to end the Olympic Regatta with the lowest score, (42 points) thus earning the 2004 Olympic gold medal in Windsurfing. Olympic Sailing events scores are tabulated with the lowest score (best results combines) winning. Fridman won Israel's first Olympic gold medal. Fridman dedicated his medal to the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

by members of the

Black September Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; ''Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein ...

organization during the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

. Final results 1st- Gal Fridman –

(Gold Medal) 2nd-

– Greece (Silver Medal) 3rd- Nick Dempsey – Great Britain (Bronze Medal) 4th- Ricardo Santos – Brazil 5th- Przemysław Miarczyński – Poland

2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing, China

Approaching the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Fridman found it hard to adjust to the new Olympic Windsurf board model, the RS:X Neil Pryde windsurfer. Also he had some crucial equipment failures at key Olympic trail regattas and failed to qualify for the 2008 Israeli Olympic Sailing Team.

Shahar Tzuberi Shahar Tzuberi (or Zubari, he, שחר צוברי; born September 1, 1986) is an Israeli windsurfer and Olympic bronze medalist, surfing in the "Neil Pryde" RS:X discipline. He is a nephew of Gad Tsobari, the 1972 Olympic wrestler who escaped fr ...

took his place and went on to win the 2008 Olympic bronze medal for Israel.

Later years

Fridman, an avid cyclist, won a gold medal in the Israeli cycling championship in 2005. In 2007, he won the Men's Windsurfer New Year International Regatta in Limassol,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. After 2008, Fridman retired from competition in windsurfing and focused on coaching up and coming Israeli Windsurfers. He guided

Nimrod Mashiah Nimrod Mashiah (also spelled Nimrod Mashiach; Hebrew: נמרוד משיח, born July 10, 1988) is an Israeli windsurfer.(12 August 2013"נמרוד משיח – שייט, גלישת רוח"/ref> In 2001, Mashiah received the Young Artist Award as ...

to the silver medal in the 2009 World Championship. In June 2005, his Bronze and Gold Olympic Medals were stolen, with only the Gold Medal recovered from the robbery. Fridman currently coaches Israel's top windsurfers preparing for the 2016 RIO Summer Olympics and currently owns a SUP Company. (Stand-Up-Paddle Board) and is involved with helping the SUP Company "Starboard" with SUP R&D and can be found giving motivational speeches worldwide.

Hall of Fame

In 2005, Fridman was named to the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

Achievements

References

External links

* * * *
Gal Fridman
at the Jewish Agency for Israel (archived)
Gal Fridman
at the

Jewish Virtual Library Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

*
Gal Fridman Achieves Olympic Glory
video at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Fridman, Gal 1975 births Living people Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli windsurfers Jewish sailors (sport) Olympic bronze medalists for Israel Olympic gold medalists for Israel Olympic medalists in sailing Olympic sailors of Israel Israeli male sailors (sport) People from Pardes Hanna-Karkur Sailors at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Mistral One Design Sailors at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Mistral One Design Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics