Gal Fridman
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Windsurfing | |||
| Bronze | 1996 Atlanta | Individual mistral windsurfer sailing | |
| Gold | 2004 Athens | Individual mistral windsurfer sailing | |
Gal Fridman (Hebrew: גל פרידמן) (born 16 September 1975 in Hadera, Israel and living in nearby Karkur) is an Israeli windsurfer and an Olympic gold medalist. Fridman won a bronze medal at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. He is the only Israeli athlete to win two olympic medals, and the first gold medalist in Israeli history.
Interestingly, his first name, Gal, means "wave" in Hebrew.
[edit] Athletic achievements
| Medal | Event | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | European Championship | 1995 |
| Silver | World Championship | 1996 |
| Bronze | Atlanta Olympics | 1996 |
| Bronze | European Championship | 1997 |
| Gold | International ASA Windsurfing Championship | 1999 |
| Silver | Mistral European Championship | 2002 |
| Gold | Mistral World Championship> | 2002 |
| Bronze | ISAF World Championship | 2003 |
| Gold | Athens Olympics | 2004 |
[edit] Athens 2004
Gal Fridman was one of Israel's Olympic team favorites to a win a medal (along with Judoka Ariel Zeevi and athlete Alex Averbukh), and prepared for the Olympic games for two years prior to the event.
In Athens Fridman competed in Mistral windsurfer sailing, a discipline that included 11 races. Fridman's results were:
| Race | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | (8) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
(Note: the worst race score is omitted)
On the last race on Wednesday, August 25, 2004, Fridman exploited a poor performance by Brazilian leader Ricardo Santos and a tactical mistake by Greek windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis in order to burst forward and finish the final race second, thus earning the gold medal overall. He achieved an overall total of 50 negative points, and a net total of 42 negative points. As this was the lowest negative score in the competition, Fridman earned first place and got the first gold medal ever won for Israel.
Final positions:
- Gal Fridman - Israel (gold medal)
- Nikolaos Kaklamanakis - Greece (silver medal)
- Nick Dempsey - Great Britain (bronze medal)
- Ricardo Santos - Brazil
- Przemyslaw Miarczynski - Poland
The President of Israel, Moshe Katsav, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and other senior Israeli officials and politicians called Fridman to congratulate him. Minister of sport Limor Livnat flew to Athens for the award ceremony.
