Ron Atias

Atias was born on April 19, 1995, and is 1.70 meters tall.[1][2] He began practicing karate at the age of four before switching to taekwondo at eight.[2] His first overseas competition was in Belgium when he was ten, and he won a gold medal.[2]

Atias has described his fighting style as compensating for his relatively short height through aggression, speed, and explosive power.[2] To compete in the up-to-58-kilogram division, he reduced approximately four to five kilograms before major competitions. He said that the process could affect athletes differently but had benefited him personally.[2]

His preparation for major tournaments was shadowed by significant personal loss. His father died two days before Atias was scheduled to travel to the senior World Championships; Atias nevertheless departed two days later, later describing the period as a severe personal crisis that strengthened his resolve. He said that if he won an Olympic medal, he would dedicate it to his father.[2] The Israeli national team also mourned the death of Ania Mirkin, a young friend of the squad, during its Olympic preparations. After a week of mourning, the team returned to training, and a memorial sign was placed in its training hall.[2]

Atias won the European cadet championship in 2009 and a silver medal at the European junior championships in 2011.[1] In 2016, he reached the final of the senior European Championships in Switzerland. Portugal's Rui Bragança defeated him in a disputed golden-point finish, leaving Atias with the silver medal.[3]

The defining moment of his Olympic qualification campaign came in January 2016, when he reached the final of the European qualifying tournament in Turkey. He defeated Ireland's Jack Woolley in the semifinal and Spain's Jesús Tortosa in the final to win the gold medal.[2] The result made him the first Israeli man to secure a place in Olympic taekwondo competition.[4][2] On qualifying, Atias said: "I want to say many thanks to everyone who has supported and believed in me, there is no better feeling than this."[4]

Atias was coached throughout this period by Yechiam Sharabi.[2]

At Rio 2016, Atias represented Israel in the men's up-to-58-kilogram taekwondo event, one of 48 Israeli athletes forming the country's largest-ever Olympic delegation at that time.[5] Ranked 15th in the world in his weight class, he entered a field limited to 16 athletes.[6][7] The event used a knockout format with a repechage system for the bronze-medal bouts.[8]

His opening bout, a last-16 contest, was against Brazilian home favorite Venilton Torres Teixeira.[9] Teixeira scored four overhead kicks and won 16–2.[9] During the bout, Atias's coach, Sharabi, successfully appealed one scoring decision, reducing Teixeira's lead from 8–0 to 7–0 at an intermediate point.[7] Atias was also penalized for an illegal kick to the legs.[7] A later report recorded that Atias was eliminated from the Olympics after that single bout.[10]

Reflecting before the Games on the scale of the occasion, Atias said: "This is my childhood dream. I have been training for this moment for many years."[2]

Atias was Israel's third Olympic taekwondo athlete, following Maya Arusi at Athens 2004 and Bat-El Gatterer at Beijing 2008, but he was the first Israeli man to compete in the sport at the Olympics.[11] His qualification therefore marked the beginning of Israeli male participation in Olympic taekwondo.

Atias also received private financial support from Team 3. The company's owner and chief executive, Nir Gilboa, continued providing him with a monthly allowance after Rio, saying the sponsorship had been inspired partly by Olympic medallist Yael Arad's argument that outstanding athletes, as well as people in need, deserved public support.[10]