Yesterday (Sunday,) Anastasia Gorbenko (20) made real sports history at the World Swimming Championships in Qatar, winning the silver medal in the 400m final (personal mixed style). This is the first time an Israeli has won a medal at the World Swimming Championships.
But Gorbenko is not new in the historical arena of Israeli swimming, and when at her young age she is already the most decorated swimmer in Israeli history, there is no doubt that we will see a lot more achievements in the future. Among the achievements of Gorbako: 2 gold medals in the European Championships; qualified for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Finals, breaking all Israeli records (Gurbenko is currently holding 9 Israeli swimming records in various swimming races); a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games; and 2 gold medals at the World Championships in a Short Pool (25 m).
It should be noted that Gorbenko almost won the gold medal, leading for most of the race, but eventually finished 24 hundredths of a second after the British swimmer. Nevertheless, nothing can derail the historical and significant achievement of Gorbaenko.
Another important aspect of Gorbanco’s achievement lies in the location and time of the competition – in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in the middle of the swords of iron war. In this war, Qatar is strategically important for Israel in negotiations to release the hostages held by Hamas, but we must not forget for a moment its place in the funding of Hamas over the years, and the central role Qatar is now playing in the global anti-Israel propaganda arena, through its control and influence in many media outlets, including Al Jazeera.
The Qatari audience was particularly hostile to Gorbaenko, and booed her during the post-win interview. Gorbenko shed a tear, but not because of the cries of contempt, but because of “the excitement of watching the Israeli flag being waving here,” she said. Indeed, we were all excited by the raising of the Israeli flag in distant and hostile Qatar.
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