Out LGBTQ judoka Raz Hershko added to Team LGBTQ‘s growing medal count at the Olympic Games Friday by winning the silver medal in the women’s judo +78kg division.
Hershko, who came to Paris ranked second in the world by the International Judo Federation (IJF), reached the gold-medal match after scoring one of the quickest ippons seen in the Olympic judo competition this year.
She took down Kayra Ozdemir of Turkey in 14 seconds in their semifinal to guarantee her first Olympic medal in solo competition.
Hershko previously won bronze as part of Israel’s mixed team squad at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
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The final was a different story as Hershko struggled with Brazilian judoka Beatriz Souza throughout the four-minute match.
Souza scored a waza-ari off a throw within the first minute to take the lead and never looked back.
Both received shido penalties for passive activity, but Hershko couldn’t find an answer for the judoka who upset world no 1 ranked and 2024 bronze medalist Romane Dicko of France in the semis.
The defeat surely stings, but the consolation prize represents Hershko’s best performance at the Olympics in the sport where her home nation has found the most Olympic success.
Of the 16 total medals Israel has won at the Olympics all-time, nine of them have come in judo with three of those wins coming during the Paris Games.
Hershko will have the chance, like all of the other out LGBTQ judokas who won medals or came close in individual competition, at another Olympic medal when the mixed team bracket gets underway Saturday morning (Friday night in the U.S.).
