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Athletes

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Sada Jacobson

Sada Jacobson won the bronze medal for sabre fencing at the 2004 Olympics (the first Olympics where women were allowed to compete in sabre), then did one better in 2008, bringing home both a silver and another bronze medal.

Emily Hughes

Emily Hughes showed great promise as an Olympic figure skater, but retired young to pursue the possibilities of a career in business.

Sasha Cohen

Figure skater Alexandra “Sasha” Cohen won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics and popularized the difficult I-spin, which many now call the “Sasha spin” in her honor.
Eliana Melmed Playing Doctor

Not Just Pink

Eliana Melmed

I am a junior in high school. I’m involved in the mock trial team, the drama department, the creative writing program, and a music club. I’m also on two sports teams: water polo and swimming. I could have also chosen to participate in basketball, or cross country, or tennis, or volleyball, or soccer, or a dozen other sports. I definitely take for granted my opportunities to participate in the athletics and activities of my choice.

Bobbie Rosenfeld / Aly Raisman

Olympians

Going for the Gold 

Julie Heldman

Julie Heldman won 22 professional tennis titles in her stunning career.

Deena Kastor

Long distance runner Deena Kastor was an eight–time national champion in cross country and holds the American records in the marathon, half–marathon, 5K, 8K, and 15K races.

Dara Torres

An athlete of remarkable endurance and drive, twelve-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres is the only American swimmer to have competed in five Olympics.

Rusty Kanokogi

The first woman allowed to train with male judo students at Japan’s judo headquarters, the Kodokan, Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi pioneered women’s judo as an Olympic sport.

Sarah Hughes

In a thrilling, surprise victory, Sarah Hughes won the gold medal for figure skating at the 2002 Olympics, becoming the first American to win that honor without ever having won a World or US senior national title.

Aly Raisman

Alexandra “Aly” Raisman not only won gold and bronze medals for her individual performances at the 2012 Olympics but captained the women’s gymnastic team that won the gold medal that year.
Baltimore Ravens Helmet

It Ain’t Easy Being A Feminist Sports Fan

Emilia Diamant

Sure, we’ve got Mo’ne Davis and Serena Williams, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Hope Solo, but it’s still a man’s world.

Topics: Feminism, Athletes
Anya Davidovich and Evgeny Krasnopolski

Landing the Triple: Female, Israeli, and First

Paula Sinclair

Anya Davidovich, a sixteen-year old girl born in the USA, will be skating for Israel in the Winter Olympics. Her parents are Israeli, and most of her family lives in Israel. She is part of the first-ever pairs team to compete for Israel in the Olympics and the only female member of Team Israel. Anya will be carrying the flag for the Israeli delegation.

Paula Sinclair, JWA Director of Programs & Partnerships, interviewed Anya and her mother as they prepared for their trip to Sochi.

Topics: Athletes, Olympics

Kathryn Wasserman Davis, 1907 - 2013

In 1998, at the age of 91, she took up kayaking, making regular excursions on the Hudson River and along the coast and on the lakes of Maine. As a result of these experiences, she became a significant supporter of environmental organizations.

Rena Glickman featured by Sports Illustrated

November 24, 2008

“The father of men's judo was a small, quiet, disciplined athlete who lived in Japan a century ago. No big surprise there. The mother of women's judo?

Row Boat

Taking Things Into Her Own Hands: Disabled Israeli Athlete Belts Out Hatikvah

Deborah Fineblum Raub

In 1878, Naphtali Herz Imber, an English poet originally from current-day Ukraine, paid tribute to the dream of a Jewish homeland.

Topics: Sports, Athletes

Kayla, Rusty, and the "best sport in the world"

Ellen K. Rothman

When I opened The Boston Globe on Friday morning, I was greeted by a large photo above the fold of a jubilant Kayla Harrison, who had just become the first US judo athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.

Olympic Rings Formation

Dear Aly: I could nevah hava (nagila) 'nuff of you!

Gabrielle Orcha

Dear Aly,

Though you’re ten years my junior, you inspire me. At five feet two inches, you are strong—in body and spirit; you are open and kind; you are level-headed and take things as they come.

Topics: Music, Athletes, Olympics
Rusty Kanokogi

Grappling all the way to the Olympics

Gabrielle Orcha

For the first time in world history, this year every country competing in the Olympics has a female athlete on its team.

Top 10 Moments for Jewish Women in 2011

Jewesses With Attitude
10. We celebrated the 40th anniversary of Our Bodies, Ourselves

Orthodox basketball star Naama Shafir leads the University of Toledo to victory

April 2, 2011

On Saturday, April 2, 2011, junior guard Naama Shafir scored a career-high 40 points, securing the University of Toledo’s victory over the University of Southern California in the final round of

Stanford wins NCAA College Cup with help from Jewish soccer star, Camille Levin

December 4, 2011

After four straight trips to the women’s soccer Final Four, Stanford finally brought home the NCAA College Cup with the help of senior Camille Levin, a Jewish woman from Newport Coast, CA in a Dece

Cheerleading

Does cheerleading matter to Jewish women?

Leah Berkenwald

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is considering a proposal to recognize competitive cheerleading as an emerging sport, a step towards legitimacy as a championship sport. Anyone who has seen competitive cheerleading (and the injuries cheerleaders often sustain) can understand why; it’s a physically demanding and dangerous version of gymnastics where people perform flips and handstands not on a balance beam, but on top of a human pyramid.

Rusty Kanokogi, 1935 - 2009

Why judo? She fell in love with judo, not for the self-defense it afforded, but because it calmed her down. She already knew how to defend herself. She decided to channel her immense reserve of energy into this sport that instilled self-control.

Laura Spector's Olympic debut

Leah Berkenwald

Two years ago we cheered on swimmer Dara Torres, fencer Sada Jacobson, marathoner Deena Kastor, and pole Vaulter Jillian Schwartz at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. This year, only one Jewish American woman is competing in the Vancouver Olympic games, and in one of the more interesting events. Laura Spector made her Olympic debut in Vancouver, competing in the women's biathlon, a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. 

Topics: Athletes, Olympics

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