Yakov Toumarkin

Toumarkin was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and immigrated to Israel with his mother as a young child, settling in Ashdod.[1] He began swimming at age six after his mother enrolled him in a swimming class, and he trained in his early years with Maccabi Ashdod under coaches Gary and Tatiana Klontrov.[1]

At age 13, national-team coach Leonid Kaufman noticed him at a competition and recommended that he transfer to the gifted-athletes boarding school at the Wingate Institute.[1] Toumarkin studied and lived at Wingate from seventh through twelfth grade, following a daily routine that began with a 5:30 a.m. wake-up, a six-kilometer swim at 6:00 a.m., school until 2:00 p.m., a strength session after a rest period, and a further two-hour pool session starting at 5:00 p.m. — a schedule he maintained every day for five years.[1]

Toumarkin announced himself on the international junior scene by winning the 100-meter backstroke title at the 2010 European Junior Championships and earning two silver medals at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.[2] Three months before the 2012 London Olympics, he added bronze medals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke at the European Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.[2]

He secured his Olympic qualification by placing 11th in the 200-meter backstroke semifinal at the 2011 World Championships and meeting the Olympic standard.[2] By May 2012, at an Israeli swimming championship, he equaled the national record in the 100-meter backstroke with a heat time of 54.22 seconds.[3]

At the 2012 London Olympics, Toumarkin reached the 200-meter backstroke final and finished seventh — the best Olympic result by an Israeli pool swimmer — and became only the second Israeli swimmer to reach an Olympic final.[2] During the competition, he broke the national record and then nearly broke it again.[4] After the result, he said, "I was in shock" and "I surprised myself," noting that he had originally hoped only to reach the semifinal.[4] In the 100-meter backstroke, he finished sixth in his heat with a time of 54.91 seconds and did not advance.[5] For his seventh-place finish in the 200-meter backstroke, he received NIS 50,000, including NIS 10,000 for breaking the national record.[6]

In December 2015, Toumarkin added silver medals in the 200-meter backstroke and 100-meter individual medley at the European Short-Course Swimming Championships, held at the Wingate Institute in Israel.[2]

During his military service, Toumarkin served as an outstanding athlete in the Israel Air Force and was assigned as a general worker at Sde Dov Air Base. He completed basic training and carried a weapon for a month but was not assigned a combat role.[1][7]

Ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, Toumarkin had qualified in three events: the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke, and 200-meter individual medley, and was identified as Israel's principal swimming candidate to reach an Olympic final.[8] He was also described as Israel's best medal hope at the 2016 European Swimming Championships in London, which he designated as his final competition before the Games and a critical test of his readiness.[9] At Rio, he finished 27th of 39 swimmers in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 54.66 seconds and did not advance.[10][11] In the 200-meter backstroke, he reached the semifinal — the only member of Israel's delegation to reach a swimming semifinal at those Games — and finished 15th.[2]

In 2017, Toumarkin set an Israeli record of 53.60 seconds in the 100-meter backstroke, improving the previous mark by 17 hundredths of a second — a time that would have been fast enough for seventh place in that year's World Championships final.[12]

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, Toumarkin served as one of Israel's flag bearers at the opening ceremony alongside athlete Hanna Minenko.[13][2] He competed in both men's backstroke events but did not advance to either semifinal.[2] Following the Tokyo Games, he expressed his intention to continue toward the 2024 Paris Olympics, stating that he felt healthy and believed he could do more.[14]

Toumarkin attempted to qualify for the Paris Olympics with the goal of becoming the first Israeli swimmer to compete at four Olympic Games, but he did not achieve the required standard.[2]

Across his career, Toumarkin held Israeli records in backstroke and individual medley events and was recognized as an Israeli record holder in multiple disciplines.[15] He received the Israeli Olympic Committee's athlete-of-the-year honor in 2012 following his landmark London result.[15] The Israeli Swimming Association's chair described him as Israel's most decorated swimmer.[15]

Upon retiring from competition at age 32, Toumarkin was appointed professional director of the Israeli Swimming Association's national performance teams.[2] His responsibilities include implementing the national teams' professional program, coordinating with coaches and sports bodies, and overseeing Olympic preparations.[15] In announcing the transition, he said he wanted to transmit the knowledge he had accumulated from age six onward and give back to the sport in which he had grown up.[15]