Gal Fridman

Israeli windsurfer (born 1975)

Gal Fridman

Israeli Olympic gold medalist Gal Fridman in 2004

Personal information
Native name| גל פרידמן
Born|  (1975-09-16) September 16, 1975 (age 49)
Karkur, Israel
Height| 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Weight| 68 kg (150 lb)[1]
Other interests| Cycling [1]
Sport
Country|  Israel
Sport| Sailing
Event| Mistral
Club| Sdot Yam
Coached by| Mike Gebhardt
Retired| 2008
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals|  (2004)
World finals|  (2002)
Regional finals|  (1995, 2002)
Highest world ranking| 1st (Mistral, 2003)
25th (RS:X, 2007)

Medal record

Sailing
Representing  Israel
Olympic Games
| 2004 Athens | Mistral
| 1996 Atlanta | Mistral
World Championships
| 2002 Pattaya | Mistral
| 1996 Haifa | Mistral
| 2003 Cádiz | Mistral
European Championships
| 1995 Isle of Wight | Mistral
| 2002 Neusiedlersee | Mistral
| 1997 Murcia | Mistral
| 2001 Marseille | Mistral

Updated on 8 August 2012

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.

## Early life and career

[edit]

Fridman was born in Karkur, Israel, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family.[2] The second of three children, Fridman was born to Dganit and Uri Fridman, and has an older sister, Maayan and a younger brother, Yuval. Growing up close to the Mediterranean Sea, Gal was introduced by his father to windsurfing. Fridman started sailing at age seven, and began racing when he was 11. He began competing internationally in youth categories while still in school. After his service in the Israel Defense Forces he began competing as an adult.[3]

In 1995, he won the ASA Boardsailing Championship in Eilat, Israel. In 1999, he won the International ASA Windsurfing Championship in Eilat. In 2002, he won the Mistral World Championship held in Pattaya, Thailand,[3] and was ranked No. 1 on the International Sailing Federation rankings in February 2003.[4]

## 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Atlanta

[edit]

Main article: Sailing at the 1996 Summer Olympics

At the 1996 Summer Olympics, 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.[3]

## 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney, Australia

[edit]

Main article: Sailing at the 2000 Summer Olympics

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

[edit]

Main article: Sailing at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Fridman receives a certificate from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at a reception for the Olympic athletes' return from the Athens 2004 Olympic Games at "Beit Hanassi" in Jerusalem.

Back on form leading up to the 2004 Olympics, Fridman was one of Israel's Olympic Team favorites to win a Medal (along with judoka Ariel Ze'evi and athlete Aleksander Averbukh), and prepared intensively for the Olympic Games two years prior to the event. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, 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 U.S.

Race  | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Place  | (8) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 2

(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 to end the Olympic Regatta with the lowest score of 42 points, which secured his 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 murdered by terrorists during the 1972 Summer Olympics.[5]

Final results

1st: Gal Fridman – Israel (Gold medal)

2nd: Nikolaos Kaklamanakis – Greece (Silver medal)

3rd: Nick Dempsey – Great Britain (Bronze medal)

4th: Ricardo Santos – Brazil

5th: Przemysław Miarczyński – Poland

## 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing, China

[edit]

Main article: Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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

## Later years; cycling and coaching

[edit]

Fridman, an avid cyclist, won a gold medal in the Israeli cycling championship in 2005.[6] In 2007, he won the Men's Windsurfer New Year International Regatta in Limassol, Cyprus.

After 2008, Fridman retired from competition in windsurfing and focused on coaching up-and-coming Israeli windsurfers. He guided Nimrod Mashiah to the silver medal in the 2009 World Championship.[7]

He coaches Tom Reuveny, who became the Olympic champion winning the gold medal, at 24 years of age, representing Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in windsurfing in the Men's iQFoil in Marseille, France.[8]

Fridman is a Vegan.[9]

## Hall of Fame

[edit]

In 2005, Fridman was named to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[4]

## Achievements

[edit]

Year  | Tournament  | Result

|
|

1995  | Mistral European Championship  | 2nd
1996  | Mistral World Championship  | 2nd
1996  | Olympic Games, Atlanta | 3rd
1997  | Mistral European Championship  | 3rd
1999  | International ASA Windsurfing Championship  | 1st
2001  | Mistral European Championship  | 3nd
2002  | Mistral European Championship  | 2nd
2002  | Mistral World Championship, Thailand | 1st
2003  | ISAF World Championship  | 3rd
2004  | Olympic Games, Athens | 1st

## See also

[edit]

* Biography portal
* Sports portal
* Israel portal

* List of Olympic medalists in sailing
* List of World Championships medalists in sailing (windsurfer classes)
* List of select Jews in sailing
* Israel at the Olympics
* Sports in Israel

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gal Fridman". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
2. ^ Taylor, Paul (July 1, 2004). "A Complete Review of Jewish Olympic Medallists". Jews and the Olympic Games: The Clash between Sport and Politics. Brighton, United Kingdom: Sussex Academic Press. p. 229\. ISBN 978-1903900871. LCCN 2004000498. OCLC 54046723. OL 8769453M. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
3. ^ a b c "Gal Fridman, 1975–". Jewish Agency for Israel. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
4. ^ a b "Gal Fridman". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
5. ^ Bialik, Carl; Fry, Jason (August 26, 2004). "Gold Medal for Israel's Fridman Comes With Memories of Munich" - via www.wsj.com.
6. ^ "Gal Fridman". Retrieved August 7, 2012.
7. ^ "Israel's Nimrod Mashiah wins silver at windsurfing world championship". Haaretz. September 10, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
8. ^ Joshua Halickman (August 4, 2024) "Golden Tom Reuveny shocks the nation; You brought us a great light. our anthem was played, Hatikva, hope, for the first time in these Olympics in France, President Isaac Herzog told Tom Reuveny," The Jerusalem Post.
9. ^ מוניץ, שמואל (October 29, 2022). ""חשבתי שזה יכול לעזור לי מבחינה פיזית": הגל הטבעוני הגיע לספורט המקצועני". Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved January 23, 2025.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gal Fridman.

* Gal Fridman at World Sailing
* Gal Fridman at Olympics.com
* Gal Fridman at Olympic.org (archived)
* Gal Fridman at Olympedia
* Gal Fridman at the Olympic Committee of Israel (archived) (in Hebrew)
* Gal Fridman at the Jewish Agency for Israel (archived)
* Gal Fridman at the Jewish Virtual Library
* Gal Fridman on Facebook
* Gal Fridman Achieves Olympic Glory, video at the Olympic Games official website

* v
* t
* e

Olympic champions in men's Sailboard

* 1984:  Stephan van den Berg (NED)
* 1988:  Bruce Kendall (NZL)
* 1992:  Franck David (FRA)
* 1996:  Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (GRE)
* 2000:  Christoph Sieber (AUT)
* 2004:  Gal Fridman (ISR)
* 2008:  Tom Ashley (NZL)
* 2012:  Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED)
* 2016:  Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED)
* 2020:  Kiran Badloe (NED)
* 2024:  Tom Reuveny (ISR)

* Windglider (1984)
* Division II (1988)
* Lechner A-390 (1992)
* Mistral One Design (1996–2004)
* RS:X (2008–2020)
* IQFoil (2024–)

* v
* t
* e

Olympic medalists for Israel

Gold medalists |

* Gal Fridman (2004)
* Artem Dolgopyat (2020)
* Linoy Ashram (2020)
* Tom Reuveny (2024)

Silver medalists |

* Yael Arad (1992)
* Inbar Lanir (2024)
* Raz Hershko (2024)
* Sharon Kantor (2024)
* Artem Dolgopyat (2024)
* Israel national rhythmic gymnastics team (2024)

Bronze medalists |

* Oren Smadja (1992)
* Gal Fridman (1996)
* Michael Kolganov (2000)
* Arik Ze'evi (2004)
* Shahar Tzuberi (2008)
* Yarden Gerbi (2016)
* Or Sasson (2016)
* Avishag Semberg (2020)
* Israel national judo team (2020)
* Peter Paltchik (2024)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template