Shira Rishony


Shira Rishony is an Israeli Olympic lightweight judoka. She competes at U48 kg. She competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Rishony was born in Holon, Israel. At the age of five, she was sent by her mother to learn ballet despite her desire to learn judo. After two years, as she still insisted on learning judo, her mother finally gave in and allowed her to take part in the sport. She now lives in Even Yehuda, near Wingate Institute.

Judo career

Rishony won the Israel U48 Women's Judo Championship in 2009 and 2012, won the silver medal in the competition in 2014, and won the bronze medal in 2007 and 2011.
In 2009, Rishony won gold medals in the 2009 Maccabiah Games and the Junior Tour U20 Izmir 'Cehat Sener'.
In 2012, she won the gold medal in the IJF World Cup Tashkent, and took the bronze medals in the World Cup Bucharest and the World Cup Istanbul. In 2013 Rishony won the gold medal at Grand Prix Tashkent, and the bronze medal at Grand Prix Almaty, but was injured in a competition in Germany and lost six months of training and competition.
In 2014, Rishony won the gold medal at the European Open in Tallinn, and bronze medals at the Grand Prix Jeju and the Pan American Open San Salvador. In 2015, she won the bronze medal at the Grand Slam of Paris. In May 2015, she finished in 5th place at the World Masters in Rabat.
In 2016, she won the silver medal at the Grand Prix Havana.
Rishony, ranked 20th in the world, competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Women's Judo 48 kg, taking the additional place of Europe. In her first bout she was deemed to have illegally touched her opponent’s leg with her elbow in her match against Ukrainian Maryna Cherniak, and was disqualified for illegal use of her elbow at 2:10 of her first bout. After the loss, she admitted "I still don’t understand why I was disqualified." In tears, Rishony said: "I’m still in shock, I felt I was ready and it hurts me that I couldn’t give my all and that it all ended before it really began... I was surprised by the decision of the judge... It’s hard to put in words how much you give and how much you sacrifice and how much you dream of this moment. You certainly don’t imagine it ending like this."