The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Israel

Icon of occuation in country

This page contains a list of the greatest Israeli Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 3 of which were born in Israel. This makes Israel the birth place of the 100th most number of Athletes behind Namibia, and Saudi Arabia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Israeli Athletes of all time. This list of famous Israeli Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Israeli Athletes.

Photo of Gal Fridman

1. Gal Fridman (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 37.01, Gal Fridman is the most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Gal Fridman (or Friedman, Hebrew: גל פרידמן; born September 16, 1975) is an Israeli windsurfer and Israel's first Olympic gold medalist. Fridman won a Bronze Medal in the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. He is the first of two Israelis athletes to win two Olympic Medals, and the first Olympic Gold medalist in Israeli history. His first name, Gal, means "wave" in Hebrew. He was born in Karkur, Israel, and lives close to the water in Sdot Yam, a nearby kibbutz.

Photo of Shahar Tzuberi

2. Shahar Tzuberi (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 28.87, Shahar Tzuberi is the 2nd most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Shahar Tzuberi (or Zubari, Hebrew: שחר צוברי; born 1 September 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 from Arab terrorists during the Munich massacre. He is a three-time Olympian.

Photo of Shira Rishony

3. Shira Rishony (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 23.54, Shira Rishony is the 3rd most famous Israeli Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Shira Rishony (Hebrew: שירה ראשוני, born 21 February 1991) is an Israeli Olympic lightweight judoka. She competes at U48 kg (under 106 pounds). She competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics she won a bronze medal in the mixed team event, and placed 5th in the women's 48 kg event. She won a bronze medal at the 2022 European Championship. Rishony represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo; in the women's 48 kg she came in 17th, and in the mixed team event Team Israel came in ninth.

Photo of Avishag Semberg

4. Avishag Semberg (b. 2001)

With an HPI of 22.91, Avishag Semberg is the 4th most famous Israeli Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Avishag Semberg (or Abishag Samberg, Hebrew: אבישג סמברג; born (2001-09-16)16 September 2001) is an Israeli Olympic taekwondo athlete. She is an Olympic bronze medalist for Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the women's 49 kg competition. She won Israel's all-time tenth Olympic medal, and is the youngest Israeli to receive an Olympic medal, at the age of 19. Semberg represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women's taekwondo -49 kg category. Saudi athlete Dunya Abutaleb defeated Semberg in the first round.

Photo of Baruch Shmailov

5. Baruch Shmailov (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 21.80, Baruch Shmailov is the 5th most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Baruch Shmailov (Hebrew: ברוך שמאילוב; born 2 September 1994) is an Israeli Olympic judoka. He competes in the under 66 kg weight category, and won a gold medal in the 2022 World Masters in Jerusalem. Shmailov also won a bronze in the 2017 World Masters, as well as a silver at the 2018 World Masters. He competed for Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, finishing in fifth place in the individual competition and winning a bronze medal in the mixed team. He has reached a high world ranking of third in 2019, 2022, and 2024. Shmailov represented Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in judo in the men's 66 kg event (where he beat Morocco’s Abderrahmane Boushita in his first match, lost to Tajikistan’s Nurali Emomali in his round of 16 match, and came in 9th), and in the mixed team event in which Team Israel came in ninth.

Photo of Tal Erel

6. Tal Erel (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 0.00, Tal Erel is the 6th most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Tal Erel (טל אראל; born June 16, 1996) is an Israeli baseball player for the Israel National Baseball Team. He has played college baseball at Lynn University. He played for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.

Photo of Matan Roditi

7. Matan Roditi (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 0.00, Matan Roditi is the 7th most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Matan Roditi (Hebrew: מתן רודיטי; born 6 October 1998) is an Israeli Olympic marathon swimmer. His 4th place at the 2020 Summer Olympics is the closest Israel has come to an Olympic medal in swimming. He has set Israeli national records in the 800 metre freestyle and the 1500 metre freestyle, and the 10 kilometre marathon. He represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in swimming in the Men's marathon 10 kilometre, and came in 16th.

Photo of Daniel Rowden

8. Daniel Rowden (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Daniel Rowden is the 8th most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Daniel Rowden (born 9 September 1997) is an English middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres. He won a silver medal at the 2017 European U23 Championships. He became British champion when winning the 800 metres event at the 2020 British Athletics Championships in a time of 1 min 45.94 secs.

Photo of Yoav Cohen

9. Yoav Cohen (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 0.00, Yoav Cohen is the 9th most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Yoav Cohen (Hebrew: יואב כהן; born 30 August 1999) is an Israeli windsurfer. In 2020 he won the RS:X European Championships, and In 2021 he represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished 4th in Men's RS:X.

Photo of Loo Phay Xing

10. Loo Phay Xing (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Loo Phay Xing is the 10th most famous Israeli Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Jeremiah Loo Phay Xing (born 28 September 1997) is a Malaysian artistic gymnast. He represented Malaysia at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished sixty-second in the all-around during the qualification round.

People

Pantheon has 36 people classified as Israeli athletes born between 1975 and 2002. Of these 36, 36 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Israeli athletes include Gal Fridman, Shahar Tzuberi, and Shira Rishony. As of April 2024, 33 new Israeli athletes have been added to Pantheon including Shira Rishony, Baruch Shmailov, and Tal Erel.

Living Israeli Athletes

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Newly Added Israeli Athletes (2024)

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous