Alice Schlesinger

Published accounts conflict on Schlesinger's birthplace. A 2018 Ynet profile says she was born in 1988 in Herzliya to immigrants from the United Kingdom and spent most of her life in Rishon LeZion, where she began participating in sport.[3] An earlier French-language Jerusalem Post profile reported that she was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, and arrived in Israel with her parents on April 4, 1990.[4]

Schlesinger has said that her mother grew up in England, that English was a first language for her from childhood, and that she had family there.[5] Her mother's English birth underpinned her later move to British representation.[6] Schlesinger described feeling that she genuinely belonged in England because of those family and linguistic ties.[5]

Schlesinger's senior international career under the Israeli flag produced some of her most significant results. Her 2008 European Championship bronze medal in Portugal was the first of its kind in her career, and she later recalled that it opened the door to her Olympic debut in Beijing.[1] She went on to win bronze at the 2009 World Judo Championships and a total of three European Championship bronze medals while representing Israel.[1]

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she competed in the women's judo competition as part of Israel's delegation.[1] Before the London 2012 Games, she was considered one of Israel's strongest medal prospects in the women's under-63-kilogram event, having won her third European Championship bronze in April 2012 and received a bye into the last 16.[7] Ahead of the competition, she said: "The only thing different about the Olympics is that they're held every four years. The mat's the same mat, the weighing room has the same scale and the opponents are the same opponents."[8] She also noted that she typically trained with men when in Israel and spoke about the pressure associated with Israel's drought of women's Olympic medals.[8]

Accounts conflict on the stage at which Schlesinger was eliminated at London 2012. The Times of Israel described her loss to the French world champion as a round-of-16 exit and reported that she tore a tendon in her elbow during the bout.[9] A 2015 Ynet report called it a quarterfinal, while a 2021 Ynet retrospective referred to a consolation-round loss.[6][1] On returning to Israel, she described the result as "disappointing" while looking ahead.[9] Israel sent 37 athletes to the London Games across eight sports, and no Israeli athlete won a medal.[10]

Outside judo, Schlesinger demonstrated her versatility at the 2013 Kazan Universiade, winning two gold medals in combat sports: one in belt wrestling and one in sambo. In the under-64-kilogram sambo final, she defeated a Belarusian opponent 12–0, having earlier beaten competitors from Venezuela and Turkmenistan.[11]

Following her dispute with the Israel Judo Association, Schlesinger announced in 2013 that she intended to switch national representation.[2] She subsequently received a formal release from the association.[12] By December 2014, she was representing Great Britain, a move connected to her mother's birth in England.[6]

The move quickly produced results. Schlesinger won the British national championship and took gold at the Düsseldorf Grand Prix in February 2015.[5] In 2016, she won gold at the Baku Grand Slam, beating Yarden Gerbi on her way to the title and winning the final in 27 seconds, a performance that also earned her 500 Olympic qualifying points.[13]

At Rio 2016—her third Olympic Games—Schlesinger defeated South Korea's Ji-Yun Bak by ippon to advance to the second round.[14] Her round-of-16 match against Anicka van Emden of the Netherlands ended without either judoka scoring points; a penalty against Schlesinger decided the contest and ended her tournament.[14] After switching to British colors, she also won European Championship silver and bronze medals.[1] She took silver at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, although she later recalled returning to her room afterward and crying because the result did not feel like one of the defining achievements of her career.[2]

Schlesinger's career encompassed three Olympic Games under two national flags and medal-winning performances in judo, sambo, and belt wrestling.[1][11] Her later return to international sambo competition extended that record beyond her retirement from professional judo.

Schlesinger retired from judo at age 32, choosing not to continue toward the postponed Tokyo Olympics.[2] Her final judo bout came in February 2020 after she had suffered a cervical disc herniation; she said she had not regained full hand function afterward.[2] At the time of her retirement interview, she was studying psychology and planning to discuss starting a family with her husband and longtime coach, Pavel Musin.[2]

In September 2026, she returned to international competition in sambo and won bronze at the World Beach Sambo Championships in Brazil. Competing at 72 kilograms for Etzma Rishon LeZion, she lost her semifinal to a Kazakh opponent before defeating a Moroccan competitor in the bronze-medal bout. The report identified her as a mother of three.[15] Schlesinger had also entered public life in 2018, when she announced her candidacy in Rishon LeZion's municipal elections on the Young + Green list.[3]

The circumstances surrounding Schlesinger's departure from Israeli representation involved contested and, in part, legally disputed claims. A 2013 Ynet report described a conflict over her weight category and coaching arrangements: she objected to being assigned coach Shani Hershko—who also worked with rival Yarden Gerbi—instead of her partner Pavel Musin. After Schlesinger boycotted team practices, the parties initially reached a compromise on her training schedule.[16]

Schlesinger's lawyer alleged that the association had blocked her from competing in Baku. Schlesinger later alleged that association chairman Moshe Ponte had tried to pressure her into moving to the under-70-kilogram category and had treated her adversely after she refused. She also alleged that her former Israeli teammates were instructed not to speak to her after she changed representation.[2] During the dispute, she explored the possibility of competing for Turkey or Azerbaijan.[16]

The Israel Judo Association denied her accusations and called them false. According to her retirement interview, the association filed a defamation suit seeking four million shekels from Schlesinger and Musin, and the case was still being heard at the time of publication.[2] These allegations and denials represent the competing accounts of the parties and have not been independently established.