Israel doubled their medal count on Shabbat as the blue-and-white collected their first gold medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics along with a pair of silvers to make these Games the most successful in the nation’s history with a cool half dozen.

Tom Reuveny captured gold in men’s Windsurfing, Sharon Kantor won silver on the women’s side while Artem Dolgopyat took silver in the Floor Exercise in men’s artistic gymnastics. The medal haul came on the heals of a trio coming in Judo on Thursday and Friday as Inbar Lanir and Raz Hershko each won silver while Peter Paltchik took home a bronze.

The 24-year old Reuveny didn’t come into the Olympics with expectations that he would not only score a deal but win a gold medal but that’s exactly what the Rosh Ha’ayin native did. After finishing the semifinal race in second place, Reuveny was able to beat out Australia’s Grae Morris, who took the silver and Luuc van Opzeeland from the Netherlands, who captured the bronze.

Reuveny, who was born to a British mother and Israeli father began sailing at age eight and never in his wildest dreams did he think that one day he would be on the podium at the Olympics with Hatikva being played.

“I think I was the dark horse and nobody expected me to win,” Reuveny said. “In the semifinal, I was afraid to finish fourth or fifth which has happened in the past, but I gave it my all and did everything that I could.”

Reuveny who is coached by Israel’s first gold medalist Gal Fridman who captured his medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics also spoke about his brother who is battling in the current war, “My brother has been a combat soldier since the war began. It’s much bigger than me to win this event and it feels amazing. It was so hard to go training while everyone else was crying and grieving over those who have been lost, who have died. It’s been so hard but I still had to put my head down and keep training and it’s all for this moment.”

Kantor, who won Israel’s first medal of the day, finished her semifinal race in first place but ultimately finished second behind Italy’s Marta Maggetti, while Britain’s Emma Wilson took home the bronze.

The 21-year old Kantor was super excited after finishing on the podium, “I am so happy, I can’t believe it. I felt good. I am thrilled and so happy for the country. What a joy. I am so glad that the association supports me and the Olympic Committee is always there. I have an amazing team that trains with me 24/7. All of this is thanks to them, I’m crazy happy.”

Kantor who is from Moshav Avihayil, near Netanya, was born to immigrant parents from Australia and South Africa and started surfing at the age of 10. With Lee Korzitz as her role model there was importance as well being a female athlete who can also influence young girls, “It has meaning and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to do it. It’s exciting to be a girl winning a medal and now in sailing, it’s just crazy. The number of Israelis here with the Israeli flag is so unusual in the landscape.”

The third medal of the day came from Artem Dolgopyat who was looking to defend his gold from the previous Olympics in Tokyo. While he wasn’t able to take the top spot, a second place finish was huge for the artistic gymnast after having to come back from a tough qualifying performance last week.

Dolgopyat dug down deep and put in a wonderful Floor Exercise which gave him 14.966 points and a chance to not only take a deal but win gold. However, Carlos Yulo from the Philippines put in a perfect showing of 15.000 points to just inch ahead of the Israeli and take the gold. Jake Jarman with 14.933 points captured the bronze medal.

“I had a difficult few months in training and in the qualifiers, I didn’t give a good performance and I didn’t know if I would make it. I went into a kind of depression. But the team helped me prepare and picked me up. After I made it to the finals, I realized that I could do it with a very good feeling – that I could represent Israel as the best in the world.”

In the Team Judo competition, Israel defeated Mongolia 4-3 with wins by Peter Paltchik, Timna Nelson Levy and Tohar Butbul while Sagi Muki won the decisive contest to send the blue-and-white into the next round. However, against France, Israel has a tough time and fell 4-0 as their Olympics came to an end.

Men’s Cycling Road Race saw Itamar Einhorn finish in 62nd place in 6:39:27, 19:53 behind Remco Evenepoel from Belgium who was first.

In Mixed Dinghy, the duo of Nitai Hasson and Noa Larry are in 11th place after four races while in Men’s Dinghy after six races Omer Vered Vilenchik is in 31st position. In Women’s Dinghy Shai Kakon is in 26th place after 6 races as all there of these competitions will run into the middle of next week.