NOC OF ISRAEL CELEBRATES ATHLETES AND COACH OF THE YEAR

12 January 2012

Tel Aviv, 10th January - The National Olympic Committee of Israel has chosen the Israeli female windsurfing world champion Lee Kurzitz as Israel's 2011 athlete of the year.

300 guests took part in the festive ceremony which was held in Tel Aviv and attended by the Minister of Sport & Culture and Knesset Member Mr. Limor Livnat, Knesset Member Mr. Alex Miller, who is also Chairman of the Education, Culture and Sport Commission of the Knesset, Mr. Zachi Fishbein, Chairman of the Israeli Sports Betting Board, Ms. Orly Fruman, Director General of the Culture and Sport Ministry, along with many Israeli sports leaders and athletes.

2011 was an incredible year of achievements for Lee Kurzitz. In June 2011 she won a Bronze Medal at the World Cup in Weymouth, the venue that will host the London 2012 sailing events, and a Silver Medal at the Europe Championships in Burgas (BUL) in September.

At the beginning of December, in Perth Australia, she reached the peak of her achievements in 2011 when she won gold and became wind surfing type RS:X world champion for the second time, having already won a first one at just 19 at the Cadiz 2003 worlds in Spain.

Mr. Leonid Kaufman, the Israeli swimming team coach, was chosen as "the outstanding Coach of the Year" for leading his trainees Gal Nevo & Jacob Tomarkin in drawing up a set of national and international criteria for world championships.

The female windsurfer Oren Jacob, European champion and silver medal winner at the world championships, and the Taekwondo fighter Ron Atias, silver medal winner at the European championships, were chosen as the outstanding young athletes of the year. Their dream is winning an Olympic Medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics.