Sagi Muki

Muki was born and raised in Netanya in a family with roots in Yemen.[6] He first stepped onto a judo mat at age four and trained from childhood with Oren Smadja, the 1992 Olympic judo bronze medalist who later became Israel’s national-team coach.[6][3]

As a child, Muki played basketball, soccer and tennis as well as judo, eventually concentrating on judo and soccer.[6] At eight, he nearly left judo to join Maccabi Netanya’s football team, but chose to remain with judo while continuing to play football recreationally.[3] He described his parents as supportive of his sporting career.[6]

Muki’s senior breakthrough came in 2012, when he won bronze at World Tour tournaments in Madrid and Lisbon.[3] In 2014, he won Grand Slam gold medals in Baku and Havana and silver medals in Astana and Jeju, rising to second in the world rankings after those results.[3] The following year, he added bronze medals at Grand Slam competitions in Germany and Zagreb and won the European championship in Baku in the under-73-kilogram category.[3][7]

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Muki competed in the under-73-kilogram category despite a back injury involving two slipped discs.[6][3] He reached the semifinals but subsequently lost the bronze-medal bout, finishing fifth.[3] Reflecting on the competition, he said that he had aimed to reach the podium and that the injury affected him both physically and mentally.[6] He continued working to strengthen himself after the Games rather than abandoning his competitive ambitions.[6]

After Rio, Muki moved up to the under-81-kilogram category, winning his first medal at that weight at the Tashkent Grand Prix in October 2017.[3] In 2018, he won his second European title, defeating Belgium’s Sami Chouchi in the final in Tel Aviv.[7] This made him the second Israeli judoka, after Arik Ze’evi, to win the European championship at least twice.[3] The Tel Aviv competition drew a crowd of 4,000, and Muki credited the home supporters with giving him strength during difficult moments.[3][7] He described winning in Israel as a dream come true after the rehabilitation that followed his Rio injury.[7]

In October 2018, Muki won gold at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, where fellow Israeli judoka Peter Paltchik also won gold.[2][8] Hatikvah was played and the Israeli flag flew at the stadium in the presence of Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev.[8] Regev attended as an invited guest of Emirati officials.[2]

Muki won the men’s under-81-kilogram world championship in Tokyo in August 2019, defeating Belgium’s Matthias Casse in the final.[1] He recorded five ippon victories across six bouts that day, with the decisive ippon in the final coming with one minute and 21 seconds remaining.[1] His semifinal opponent was Egypt’s Mohamed Abdelaal, whom he narrowly defeated to reach the championship bout.[1] Muki became the first Israeli man to win a world judo title, following Yarden Jarbi’s victory in the women’s under-63-kilogram event in 2013.[9]

Muki won European Championship bronze in 2021.[5] At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021, his individual campaign ended in his second contest against Austria’s Shamil Borchashvili.[10] The Games had been postponed for a year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and he arrived in less favorable form than he had been in before the delay.[10]

In the mixed team event, which was making its Olympic debut, Israel opened with a victory over Italy before losing 4–3 to France in the quarterfinals.[4] A 4–2 repechage victory over Brazil brought the team into the bronze-medal contest against the Russian Olympic Committee team.[4] Muki defeated Mikhail Igolnikov, and Israel went on to win the match 4–1.[10][4] His bronze-medal teammates were Timna Nelson-Levy, Ori Sasson, Li Kochman, Gili Sharir, Tohar Butbul, Peter Paltchik and Raz Hershko.[11] Afterward, Muki said that he had worked hard since Rio and that an Olympic medal had been the achievement missing from his individual honors.[4]

Muki added another team bronze at the 2022 World Championships in Tashkent.[5] In February 2023, he returned to an individual podium by winning the under-81-kilogram title at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam.[12] He defeated Turkey’s Vedat Albayrak by ippon just 12 seconds into the final, earning his ninth career Grand Slam medal.[13][12] It was his first individual medal in nearly two years, following his bronze at the 2021 European Championships.[12] After a difficult period in his career, he encouraged others to continue pursuing their goals and to believe in themselves.[12]

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Muki won his opening contest before losing to South Korea’s Lee Jun-hwan by ippon in golden score in the round of 16.[14] After the defeat, he spoke about the effect of the death in Gaza of Omer Smadja, the son of his coach Oren Smadja.[14] Muki said that he had initially struggled to find the strength to train, then tried to turn his feelings into motivation.[14] He also expressed a wish to spend more time with his family after more than 12 years in which his sporting commitments had limited that time.[14]

Paris proved to be Muki’s final competition.[15] He considered continuing toward the Los Angeles Olympics, but after taking time following Paris to focus on his wife and children, he decided to retire.[15] Explaining the change in his priorities, he said, “I live for them, not for judo, as I did before.”[15]

Muki announced his retirement at a press conference in Netanya on February 16, 2026, at age 33.[5][16] He said that he still loved competing but no longer felt able to give the sport everything it required, describing the decision as one made from completeness rather than pain.[5] Recalling his earlier dedication, he spoke of arriving first and leaving last at training and getting up at six in the morning to run on the beach.[5] He explained his decision by saying, “I’m not retiring because I can’t, I’m retiring because I know exactly what is needed to be a world champion,” and added that his dreams had found a new direction.[16]

Muki’s competitive record includes Israel’s first men’s world judo title and European gold medals in two weight categories.[3][1] He also won an Olympic mixed-team bronze and a World Championships team bronze.[4][5] Following his retirement, he gave lectures, appeared on Israeli television and opened judo clubs in Netanya.[15]

His friendship with Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei developed after the events surrounding the 2019 World Championships.[15] When Mollaei returned to competition in November 2019, Muki congratulated him on Instagram.[17] Mollaei replied, “This is true friendship and a win for sports and judo over politics.”[17] In a later match, Mollaei defeated Muki, helped him to his feet after pinning him, and exchanged a handshake and embrace with him.[17]

In 2021, Muki called Mollaei “a very close friend of mine” and welcomed his Olympic success, saying, “I’m so happy that he succeeded in achieving his dream. He deserves it.”[18] Mollaei, then representing Mongolia, dedicated his Tokyo Olympic silver medal to Israel.[18]

Reports that Iranian officials pressured Saeid Mollaei to avoid competing against Muki became a significant issue surrounding the 2019 World Championships.[15][17] Accounts of the episode describe warnings from Iranian officials, including an intervention in the athletes’ and coaches’ area and a warning to Mollaei’s coach that security forces were at his parents’ home.[17] Mollaei lost his semifinal to Matthias Casse, while Muki advanced by defeating Mohamed Abdelaal; the anticipated final between the Israeli and Iranian athletes did not take place.[15] Reports also describe Mollaei deliberately losing at the February 2019 Paris Grand Slam to avoid facing Muki and subsequently feigning an injury to avoid sharing a podium with him.[17] Muki later said that he had tried to block out the surrounding events in Tokyo and concentrate on his own bouts.[15]

After their world-championship semifinal, Abdelaal declined to shake Muki’s hand and left the mat.[1] Muki expressed regret over the refusal and said such conduct ran contrary to sport’s role in bringing people together.[1] He also said he was pleased to have shown “the beautiful face of Israel.”[9]