Yarden Gerbi

Gerbi was born on July 8, 1989. The Center for Israel Education identifies Kfar Saba as her birthplace, while a 2013 mako profile says Netanya.[1][5] She began training in judo at age six under coach Shani Hersko, a former coach of Israel's national women's judo team, who remained her trainer throughout her entire competitive career.[1]

Her family provided substantial backing for her development as an athlete. Her mother, Nurit, was an architect and real-estate appraiser, and her father, Shmulik, was behind the invention of the electronic taxi meter.[5] Her parents drove her to the Wingate Institute for training, sometimes waiting for hours, accepted her decision to leave high school to focus on judo, and for years helped cover the costs of training, competitions, and travel.[5] Gerbi later completed her matriculation exams and was studying economics at the Open University.[5]

Her path to elite competition was not without early setbacks. She lost to Alice Schlesinger in the contest for Israel's sole place at the 2012 London Olympics, and at one point earned a basic salary of just 5,000 shekels a month while her Olympic ambitions still seemed distant.[5] She later reflected on that defeat, saying: "I did our competition in London, and I lost. Today I come from a different place. A better place."[5]

Gerbi won Israeli national championships in 2007 and 2008, going on to claim eight national titles in total.[1] Her early international record included third place in the under-20 category at the 2008 European Championships, victories at the Israel Championships and the Belo Horizonte World Cup in 2009, and wins at the Tashkent World Cup and Israel Championships in 2012, alongside a silver medal at the 2012 European Judo Championships held in Russia.[2]

She rose to the top of the world rankings in May 2013.[1] That summer, Gerbi won gold at the Moscow Grand Slam in the under-57 kg event, defeating opponents from Italy, Mongolia, Brazil, and the Netherlands while entering the tournament ranked first in the world in her weight category.[6]

2013 World Championship

The defining achievement of Gerbi's career came at the World Judo Championships in August 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, where she competed in the under-63-kilogram division.[7] Ranked number one in the world heading into the event, she won all five of her bouts by ippon: against Carla Kizheno of El Salvador, Valentina Giorgis of Italy, Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia, Kana Abe of Japan, and Clarisse Agbegnenou of France in the final.[7] Gerbi defeated the French European champion Agbegnenou in just 43 seconds.[7]

The finishing technique she applied on Agbegnenou — beginning with an arm grip that she converted into a choke — became known in judo circles as the "Gerbi choke."[5] Gerbi held back from celebrating immediately because Agbegnenou, who was her friend, had lost consciousness during the bout; she waited until her opponent regained awareness within seconds.[5][8] After the fight, Gerbi noted that she had lost to Agbegnenou and to Japan's Kana Abe earlier in the year, and described Rio as the place where she beat them "where it really matters — in the World Championships."[8]

The title made Gerbi the first Israeli to win a world judo gold medal.[1] The Jerusalem Post named her Israeli Sports Personality of the Year for 2013.[1]

2014 World Championships and Other Results

At the 2014 World Championships in Russia, Gerbi reached the under-63-kilogram final before losing to Clarisse Agbegnenou, earning silver. She had defeated four opponents before the final.[9] After the ceremony, she said she had hoped to hear Israel's national anthem played, but described winning a medal after a difficult year as a good sign.[10]

In 2015, Gerbi won bronze in the under-63-kilogram competition at the European Games in Baku, defeating Portugal's Ana Cachola in the medal bout.[11] Her career circuit record also included two Grand Slam gold medals and four Grand Prix golds.[12]

2016 Rio Olympics

Gerbi's second landmark achievement came on August 9, 2016, at the Rio Olympics. She received a bye into the second round, then defeated Cuba's Maricet Espinosa by ippon, pinning her for 15 seconds.[13][14] In the quarterfinal she faced Brazil's Mariana Silva and lost after regulation and a golden-score period.[13][14]

Gerbi then fought her way through the repechage, defeating China's Yang Junxia and, in the bronze-medal bout, Japan's Miku Tashiro.[3] Against Tashiro, she scored an early yuko and then a waza-ari, holding her advantage to take third place.[14]

The bronze medal was Israel's first Olympic medal since the 2008 Beijing Games.[15] It made Gerbi the second Israeli woman to win an Olympic medal, after Yael Arad's silver in 1992, and the seventh Israeli athlete overall to reach an Olympic podium.[3] Through the 2016 Games, five of Israel's nine Olympic medals had come in judo.[16] Together with Or Sasson's bronze at the same Games, Gerbi's medal helped establish Israel as "a consistent force" in Olympic judo.[17]

In the aftermath of the Games, Gerbi dedicated her Olympic medal to the 11 Israelis murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics, saying a memorial ceremony held in Rio before the competition had inspired her and given her added motivation.[18] She also auctioned her signed Olympic uniform name tag to benefit children fighting cancer; the auction raised NIS 196,000 for the Dana Children's Hospital at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center.[19]

Retirement

After the Rio Olympics, Gerbi sustained an elbow injury.[20] She announced her retirement from competition in October 2017, aged 28, saying that "my fire had completely gone out" and explaining that she could no longer motivate herself to return to the training mat.[4] In her retirement announcement, she described herself as fulfilled, said she was ending her career with her head held high, and mentioned considering opening a judo club for children.[20]

Gerbi's 2013 world title stands as a landmark in Israeli sporting history: she remains the first Israeli to win a world judo championship.[1] Her Olympic bronze in 2016 was Israel's first Olympic medal in eight years; at the time, it made her the second Israeli woman and the seventh Israeli athlete overall to reach an Olympic podium.[3][15]

The "Gerbi choke" — the technique she deployed to finish the 2013 world final — entered the vocabulary of the sport as a named hold associated with her.[5] The Jerusalem Post named her one of its 50 Most Influential Jews following her Olympic performance.[19] After retiring, she remained an active supporter of youth judo in Israel.[1] In 2022, she publicly shared details of her personal life, naming her partner as Dana.[12]

Gerbi's quarterfinal defeat against Brazil's Mariana Silva at the 2016 Rio Olympics attracted criticism of the officiating. Gerbi believed that some of her attacks merited scoring, while the Israeli Judo Federation was reported to have accused the referee of siding with Silva, the home competitor.[13][21] Globes reported that two of Gerbi's throws were not awarded points after video review and raised the possibility that home-crowd pressure may have influenced the decision. That proposed influence remains unverified speculation rather than an established finding.[22]