Israel at the 2022 World Games

The World Games is a quadrennial competition featuring sports outside the Olympic program.[2] The 2022 edition in Birmingham brought together 3,600 athletes from 108 countries competing in more than 30 sports.[2]

Israel's delegation was managed by Ayelet, also rendered as Eilat, the umbrella federation for the country's non-Olympic competitive sports.[3][2] The delegation included 51 athletes competing across ten sports: acrobatics, DanceSport, Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, lacrosse, Muay Thai, rhythmic gymnastics, sport climbing, wakeboard, and Wushu.[1][2] The Games marked Israel's first participation in team competitions at the event, through the men's and women's lacrosse tournaments. Lacrosse's sixes format — played on a smaller field with six players per side and a 30-second shot clock — also debuted at the Games.[3]

At the July 7 opening ceremony, a Games volunteer walked beside Israel's delegation for several seconds while waving a Palestinian flag.[4] World Games spokesperson Jeff Emerson stated that the conduct violated volunteer training protocols, that the individual was removed from the program, and that the organizers apologized to Israel's consul general and the delegation.[4] Kaplan said the incident should not have happened, while Israeli Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon said that “no provocative attempt will diminish our pride.”[4]

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Daria Atamanov was one of Israel's standout performers, winning two gold medals and a silver across four rhythmic-gymnastics events.[3] Her ribbon gold was decided by a margin of just 0.1 points over Bulgaria's Boryana Kaleyn, while her clubs silver came 0.4 points behind Italy's Sofia Raffaeli.[5] Atamanov also placed sixth in the hoop final after qualifying second.[5]

Kickboxing

Shir Cohen and Or Moshe each won gold in kickboxing.[3] Cohen, competing in the women's up-to-52-kilogram K1 category, defeated Poland's Iwona Nieroda-Zdziebko 3–0; Walla Sports described her opponent as a four-time world champion.[5][6] Moshe won the men's up-to-75-kilogram final 3–0 against Ukraine's Vitalii Dubina, the reigning world champion and previous World Games titleholder.[5][6] The two victories followed a celebration at Birmingham's Temple Beth-El organized by the local Jewish community, with many delegation members going directly from the event to the kickboxing venue.[5]

Cohen later reflected that kickboxing had been “a kind of escape” for her as a child — a place to express and release difficult feelings — and said that she began training at a Tiberias club at age 15.[7]

Jiu-Jitsu

Jiu-Jitsu accounted for the largest share of Israel's medal haul, producing seven podium finishes across the competition.[3] Nimrod Ryeder won men's 77-kilogram Ne-Waza gold, defeating Bahrain's Ali Munfaredi 3–0.[3] Meshy Rosenfeld won women's 57-kilogram gold by referee decision after a 0–0 final, having already defeated the same opponent, Galina Duvanova of Kazakhstan, 18–0 in the pool round. Rosenfeld also claimed women's open Ne-Waza gold by defeating Ukraine's Bogdana Golub 2–0.[3]

Rony Nisimian took silver in women's 63-kilogram Ne-Waza after a 14–0 loss to Slovenia's Maja Povsanar.[3] Viki Dabush earned bronze in men's 69-kilogram Ne-Waza with a 4–0 victory over France's Valentin Blumental.[3] Saar Shemesh received bronze in men's 85-kilogram Ne-Waza by walkover and later added bronze in men's open Ne-Waza after the UAE's Mohamed Alamri withdrew.[3]

In an interview after the Games, Rosenfeld said that she had prepared for five years and that the delegation's flight to the competition departed about an hour after a memorial service for her two sisters, who had died in a traffic accident.[8]

Muay Thai

Nili Block won Israel's final medal of the Games — a silver in women's 60-kilogram Muay Thai on July 17.[3] She lost the final to American Charlsey Maner by a score of 30–27.[3][9] Block, a four-time world champion and four-time European champion who had previously won bronze at the 2017 World Games, had returned to competition after a serious injury and more than two years away from the sport.[9]

Acrobatic Gymnastics

The mixed pair of Adi Horwitz and Meron Weissman won bronze in acrobatic gymnastics, finishing behind Belgium and Germany with a final score of 26.270 after recording 28.250 in the dynamic exercise and 28.610 in balance.[3][10] Israel's women's and men's group teams each finished fourth.[3]

Lacrosse

Israel's women's lacrosse team finished fifth — described as the team's highest-ever world ranking — after defeating Japan 13–12 in its placement game on July 15.[3] Birmingham-raised Israeli player Olivia Mannon scored three goals in that match, including a late fourth-quarter equalizer, and called it “the game of my life.”[3] Israel's men's lacrosse team finished eighth.[3]

Other Disciplines

Sport climbing marked Israel's first participation in that discipline at the World Games.[10] Boulder climbers Nimrod Marcus and Ayala Kerem each reached the final and placed sixth.[3][10] Wakeboarder Guy Firer finished fourth in men's freestyle, and Wushu competitor Anastasia Chiriliuc placed fifth overall.[3]

Israel finished the 2022 World Games with seven gold, three silver, and four bronze medals — 14 in total.[3][2] The delegation ranked 11th by gold medals, ahead of Spain and Great Britain, and tied for 13th by total medals alongside China and Sweden.[3] The result doubled Israel's seven-medal tally from the preceding World Games in Wrocław, Poland, and was described as the country's best performance at the competition to that point.[2]

Kaplan praised the athletes and coaches while noting that non-Olympic sports receive comparatively less institutional support. He described the difficulty of funding international travel, scholarships, and other resources for the delegation.[3] He said that hearing “Hatikvah” played at medal ceremonies in Birmingham was a particularly moving moment.[3]

Contemporary coverage contained a date discrepancy concerning Atamanov's first gold. A JNS week-in-review report printed “June 12,” a date outside the Games' July 7–17 schedule, while the outlet's later final-results report placed her three-medal performance on July 12.[1][5] The later date is consistent with the competition schedule.[3]

Jiu-Jitsu totals also changed as events continued. Sport5's July 16 midway report listed five Israeli medalists.[10] Later coverage included Rosenfeld's open-division gold and Shemesh's second bronze, bringing the discipline's final total to seven medals.[3]