Israel brought home a pair of medals in judo in what was a very busy day for the nation’s athletes at the Paris Olympics as there was plenty of excitement and success across the board.

Inbar Lanir captured a silver medal in the Women’s -78kg category after collecting three yellow cards in the gold medal bout against Alice Bellandi. Lanir began her day by defeating Khuslen Otgonbayar of Mongolia in the round of 16 followed by a win over Guusje Steenhuis of Holland in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Lanir disposed of Anna-Maria Wagner from Germany via Ippon ensuring a medal for Israel heading into the bout with the Italian.

However, Lanir had a tough time against Bellandi who controlled the pace of the bout scoring a Waza-ari 3 minutes into the matchup before the Israeli was finally called for a third penalty for non-combativity.

“I have to say that I wanted to break the glass ceiling and win a gold medal in judo which would have been the country’s first,” Lanir said with a high smile on her face. “I felt that it was possible especially because of my coach Shani Hershko. It’s tough to be happy falling in the final but still it’s an amazing accomplishment and it was a privilege to put on this performance. I can say that since the start of the war the most important thing for me was to train as hard as I could and come here to the Olympic Games in Paris to represent my country and see the flag raised.”

Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel spoke to Lanir moments after the bout, “What an incredible accomplishment winning a silver medal, it’s incredible. Today is the 300th day since October 7th and the beginning of the and the country is in a tough situation but you have given us light in the darkness and a wonderful moment. We are so excited for you.”

Over on the men’s side, Peter Paltchik captured Israel’s first medal of the Games with plenty of drama as the Judoka defeated Daniel Eich in the Bronze medal bout by the score of 1-0. Paltchik began his day with a wins over Gonchigsuren Batkhuyag from Mongolia and then the local favorite Aurelien Diesse from France in Golden Score on yellow cards in the Round of 16.

However, in the quarterfinals Paltchik fell to World Champion Zelym Kotsoiev from Azerbaijan and headed to the Repechage where he defeated Michael Korrel from Holland setting up a bronze medal matchup with Eich.

Roughly minutes into the bout, Paltchik scored a Waza-ari to record a point but was then called for a pair of yellow cards for non-combativity and grip avoidance. With just five seconds remaining in the bout the referee called for third yellow card which would have awarded the medal to Eich, but the call was overturned and Paltchok held on to take home the bronze.

“I can’t describe in words the feelings that I’m going through right now,” a teary eyed Paltchik began. “Nothing ever comes easy for me. The time we’re going through in the country, the war, the injuries, the people we won’t see anymore. I just wanted to make everyone happy. My family, who sacrifices so much. I dedicate this for my entire family, I want them to have a hero who fought for everyone. This is for Omer, Oren’s son who was killed in battle.”

Paltchik’s coach Oren Smadja who lost a son fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip also spoke about the medal, “We had a very difficult day, we knew we were coming here with our backs against the wall but each bout raised his confidence. This was huge. I came here with a lot of emotions and this is a moment of joy alongside the personal grief of losing my son Omer. Our country is experiencing trauma and this is the best public relations there is, we made amazing history.”

On Friday, Raz Hershko will be in action in the +78kg category and is a threat to take home a medal and on Saturday the team event will take place as the Israeli squad will look to at least duplicate their accomplishment from the previous Olympics and bring home a bronze medal.

In the swimming pool both the blue-and-white men and women strutted their stuff as they advanced to finals and semifinals of their respective competitions. Anastasia Gorbenko advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 200m Backstroke with a 13th place finish with a time of 2:10.29, however, in the semifinals she finished in 16th place with a time of 2:11.96 and didn’t move into the finals. Aviv Barzelay finished 18th and was eliminated from contention with a time of 2:10.71.

The Israeli women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Team of Anastasia Gorbenko, Daria Golovaty, Ayla Spitz, Lea Polonsky finished 11th with a time of 7:55.99 in their semifinal heat but didn’t advance to the finals.

Over on the men’s side, Meron Cheruti competed in the 50m Freestyle and finished 10th with a time of 21.88 to advance to the semifinals while Martin Kartavi was eliminated with a time of 22.01 and finished 19th. In the semifinals Cheruti finished in 13th place with a time of 21.91 and was eliminated from contention.

In the 200m Individual Medley, Ron Polonsky swam brilliantly to finish in 7th with a time of 1:58.30 to advance to the semifinals where he came in at 1:58.89 and ended his competition in 12th place overall.

The Equestrian Jumping Team of Ashlee Bond, Robin Muhr and Daniel Bluman advanced to the final by finishing in 9th place with a time of 227.90 and 20 penalties.

In Sailing Men’s Dinghy, Omer Vered Vilenchik began his journey in the sea as he finished his first race in 38th but came back in second race with a 3rd place finish to move him into 22nd overall.

Tom Reuveny had a banner day in the ocean off the coast of Marseille as he moved into 2nd place overall after 13 races and advanced to the semifinals just behind Grae Morris of Australia while on the women’s side Sharon Kantor is also in 2nd place after 14 races and also punched her ticket to the semis with Emma Wilson from Great Britain in front of her.

In Tahiti, Anat Lelior’s Olympics came to an end as the Israeli fell to Tyler Wright from Australia in the 3rd round of Women’s Surfing with a score of 11.10 to 7.74.

In Archery, Roy Dror who had finished in 42nd place in the Men’s Individual Ranking Round with 655 points fell 6-2 against Steve Wijler from Holland in the 1/32 Elimination Round.

Artistic Gymnast Artem Dolgopyat will be looking to defend his Gold on Saturday when he will compete in the Floor Exercise.