Gal Fridman - Athens 2004

Athens 2004

Fridman was one of Israel's Olympic team favorites to a win a medal (along with judoka Ariel Zeevi and athlete Aleksander Averbukh), and prepared intensively for the Olympic Games two years prior to the event. In 2004 Summer Olympics, Fridman again competed in the Mistral windsurfer sailing, a discipline that included 11 races. Fridman's results were:

(Note: the worst race score is omitted)

In the last race on 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. Since this was the lowest negative score in the competition, Fridman earned first place and received the first Olympic gold medal ever won for Israel.

Final positions:

1. Gal Fridman – Israel (gold medal)
2. Nikolaos Kaklamanakis – Greece (silver medal)
3. Nick Dempsey – Great Britain (bronze medal)
4. Ricardo Santos – Brazil
5. Przemysław Miarczyński – Poland

The President of Israel, Moshe Katsav, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and other senior Israeli officials and politicians at the time called Fridman to congratulate him. The minister of Education, Culture, and Sports, Limor Livnat, flew to Athens for the awards ceremony. He dedicated his medal to the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes assassinated by members of the Black September organization, during the Munich Olympics (1972).