Both already have numerous titles and a bronze medal from competing with Israel's national team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, but Inbar Lanir and Peter Paltchik took another step in the Israeli sports’ hall of fame after winning silver and bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, they each faced their own challenges on the way to fame.
At 32, after a long and rich career, Israeli judoka Peter Paltchik made it big by winning a bronze medal at the Olympics in the under 100 kg category. Paltchik wasn't one of the top contenders to make the podium, but everyone knew that he was capable of anything when the moment called – and he succeeded spectacularly.
Facing every hardship
In his current campaign on the way to Paris, Paltchik became Israel's top male judoka. At the 2023 World Championships, he reached the peak of his career with a bronze medal at the event held in Qatar.
In 2024, however, he did not achieve great success, failing to advance to the medal round at the European Championship due to injury, and being eliminated several times in the early stages of the world tour. His only success this year was at the Grand Prix in Kazakhstan – until Thursday.
Challenges aren’t foreign to Paltchik. He immigrated from the Crimean Peninsula with his mother at nine months old after his father died of a severe illness. His mother left the country due to financial difficulties, and he went to live with his grandparents in Rishon LeZion. At age 5, he suffered from health problems, and his grandfather sent him to train at Pavel Mosin's judo club to help him get stronger – without knowing the decision would eventually end in an Olympic medal.
What started as a childhood hobby turned into a profession, and at age 15, Paltchik joined Israel's national team. At his first European Judo Championship for cadets, he finished in fifth place, one victory away from a winning medal.
"From that moment, I started believing in myself; I knew I could be the best. That competition changed my mindset, and I decided to go as far as I could with judo – and reach the highest peaks," he said at one time. Paltchik is married to Daniel and father to twins Golan and Raphael, who were born after two miscarriages and fertility treatments, with another daughter expected to join soon.
His career’s road wasn’t easy. Paltchik suffered two serious injuries and at one time he decided to retire and became a bar bouncer. However, he returned to judo and in 2020, became European champion and rose to the top of the world ranking. He went to Tokyo 2020 ranked fourth in the world but lost in the quarterfinals.
Paltchik made up for the loss with the team medal win together with Israel's mixed team in Tokyo, becoming an Olympic medalist. He was chosen to carry the delegation’s flag at the opening ceremony, along with swimmer Andi Murez. He also faced death threats and received threatening emails from Iranian sources, but he didn’t allow these threats to distract him.
"I never feared the threats for a moment, we’ll carry the flag as high as possible. We’re ready and mainly focused," he said. "I’m very proud the flag is close to my heart; no one will succeed in diverting me or any other Israeli from the goal for which we came here – to represent the country alongside achieving the highest possible success,” he added.
Paltchik also experienced instability this year with just one medal in the world tour but managed to come to the Olympics ranked 11th. He showed a lot of character in his 16-win round over Frenchman Aurélien Diesse in the golden score, winning after nine minutes by penalties.
He was close to surprising the world’s number one ranked Judoka, Azerbaijani Zelym Kotsoiev, but the video assistant referees canceled his wazari, and Paltchik took the loss, similar to what happened to him in Tokyo 2020. However, unlike the Tokyo Olympics, Paltchik made it big at the event and used his experience to win a surprising medal, marking the highest achievement in his rich career.
"I was a cheeky kid who didn't care about anything, and I just want to hug that little kid who simply loved this sport and loved to score ippons, and tell him: ‘Keep going, kid. Keep going with all you have. Don’t stop, don’t give up,’" Paltchik concluded after his win. "Twice I lay on the operating table broken, twice I lifted myself from the depths. I was a bar bouncer; I was everything I could be. I was an underdog. Everything culminates today in this moment."
The girl who made her dream come true
Inbar Lanir was one of the great hopes of the Israeli Olympic delegation, and she lived up to expectations: the 24-year-old judoka secured the first medal for the delegation by reaching the final in the under-78 kg weight category, ultimately winning the silver medal.
In truth, this should surprise no one. Lanir came to Paris at the peak of her career, ranked third in the world. Podium wins in major competitions aren’t new to her; in 2023, she became the world champion after defeating all her tough competitors in her weight class, and also reached the top of the world rankings.
She competed less in 2024, winning the bronze medal at the European Championship in order to conserve energy for the Olympics. Her wager paid off well as evident on Thursday.
Lanir continues Israel's judo tradition, becoming the sixth Israeli judoka to win an individual Olympic medal (excluding the judo team in the team competition at Tokyo 2020). She previously mentioned her hero is Israeli judoka Yarden Gerbi, who won the bronze medal at Rio 2016.
Lanir tried every possible extracurricular activity in her youth, including ballet, until she arrived at a judo hall and fell in love with the sport. Her explosive power and aggressiveness turned her into a significant potential in the physical sport from a very young age.
At 13, she watched as Yarden Gerbi won the world championship in Brazil and raised her hands in victory, deciding to follow in her footsteps. Ten years later, she won the world championships in Doha, Qatar, placing Lanir in a select club alongside Sagi Muki and Gerbi.
Lanir grew up in central Israel’s Yehud as a middle child between two brothers. Due to intense training and competitions, she studied for her final exams (Bagrut) outside of the regular school framework and served in the IDF as a personnel officer.
Before her big breakthrough and to in order fund her demanding judo career, she worked as a waitress and a babysitter until she managed to secure a sponsor, which relieved her financial pressure and allowed her to focus on the sport in which she would eventually become a world champion.
Lanir has spoken openly in the past about her body image as a judoka. "I was always tall, muscular, and stood out, and it bothered me. It still bothers me today. But the difference in my view now is that I know my body can do amazing things. It doesn't look like the regular girls who get millions of likes on Instagram, and I have to be proud of it and accept it," she said in an interview.