On February 4, the world is set to tune in to the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, where thousands of the world’s most elite athletes will gather for a quadrennial sporting event extravaganza.
As was the case in previous games, this year’s Winter Olympics will also see a few Israeli athletes, all of whom have proven over the past four years that they have what it takes to bring home the Gold.
One such athlete is 33-years-old Alexei Bychenko - a Ukrainian-born Israeli figure skater - who won the silver medal at the 2016 European Figure Skating Championships and the bronze at the 2016 Rostelecom Cup.
Bychenko previously represented Israel at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, and will do so again in 2022, where he will compete in the men's individual figure skating category.
Another athlete is 32-year-old pair skater Evgeni Krasnopolski, who represented Israel in pair skating in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.
For this year's games, Krasnopolski has paired up with 19-year-old Hailey Esther Kops, an Orthodox Jewish athlete who made Aliyah from the U.S. less than a decade ago.
In short track speed skating, Israel will be represented by 32-year-old Vladislav Bykanov - who previously won the gold medal in the 3,000 meter race at the 2015 and 2018 European Championship, and who represented Israel in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.
In this year’s Alpine Skiing competition, Israel will be represented by 19-year-old Israeli-Hungarian skater Noa Szollos - who won silver and bronze at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics - and her brother, 23-years-old Barnabas Szollos, who reached 21st place in the 2021 World Ski Championships in Italy.
The two siblings will compete in all five individual alpine skiing events, which includes downhill and slalom races, as well as the super giant slalom, or super-G - a high speed skiing course.
The brothers have a Jewish, Israeli father, but have never lived in Israel and do not speak Hebrew. They hold Israeli citizenship.