Judoka Peter Paltchik won the gold medal in the under-100 kg division when he defeated Russia's Arman Adamian at the European Judo Championships in Prague on Saturday night.
The gold was a first for Paltchik, who is considered one of Israel's top athletes and a potential Tokyo 2020 Olympic medalist. He previously took bronze at the 2018 European Championships in Tel Aviv.
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Speaking to the Kan public broadcaster, Paltchik said, "My whole body hurts. It feels amazing. In the finals, I constantly told myself this is mine."
Paltchik won with a "golden score," achieved when a competitor holds their opponent down for 25 seconds, when the match went into overtime.
Earlier in the day, he defeated Bulgarian Boris Georgiev in the quarterfinals and Georgia's Varlam Liparteliani in the semi-finals to make it to the finals.
Paltchik was the second Israeli to take home a medal at the competition, after Tal Flicker took silver in the under-66 kg. category, Thursday.
Sports Minister Hili Trooper congratulated Paltchik on the gold medal.
"We are proud of your achievement, which is the result of determination and perseverance, and we are waiting to celebrate together with you at home. It's touching to see the Israeli flag above the podium. Way to go, Peter, Coach Oren Smadja, and all of the accompanying team."
Israeli Judo Association President Moshe Ponte lauded Paltchik's "huge achievement" despite the difficulty of training during a pandemic.
"I'm glad that during months of uncertainty, we knew how to continue to train, stay in shape, stay sharp," he said.
Smadja said he takes "great pride and satisfaction in the great achievements for the Israeli judo team. There's no doubt that the decision to beat the coronavirus led us to the championships in the best way possible."
He said the team's decision to train outside in order to reduce the risk to athletes of contracting the virus turned out to be the right one. "Our achievements are the result of hard work, dedication, adherence to a path, and a belief in what we do."
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