_038.jpg) Raz at the 2023 Luxembourg Open | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Native name | ליהיא רז | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (2003-09-14)14 September 2003 (age 22)[2][3] Manhattan, New York, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Women's artistic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented | Israel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Migvanim Ramat HaSharon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach | Moran Klefner | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assistant coach(es) | Shir Solomon, Ilan Gazit[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lihie Raz (Hebrew:ליהיא רז; born 14 September 2003) is an Israeli Olympicartistic gymnast. Born in the United States, she represents Israel internationally. She won thebronze medal on thefloor exercise at the2020 European Championships, which was Israel's first medal at theEuropean Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is also the 2019 and 2021 Israeli all-around champion. She representedIsrael at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished 59th in the all-around during qualifications, but did not advance to any finals. Raz representedIsrael at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the qualification round, she came in 16th invault, and 31st in theall-around. She was the first reserve competitor for theall-around final.
Raz was born inManhattan in New York City to Israeli parents Tami and chef Nitzan Raz, isJewish, andimmigrated with them toIsrael when she was three months old.[4][5][6][7][1][8] She grew up inRamat HaSharon, a town just north ofTel Aviv.[1][6] She trained as an elite gymnast while attending high school.[9]
Raz began gymnastics when she was six years old under coach Moran Klefner, who is still coaching her today.[10]
At the2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel, Raz made her international debut. She won thegold medal in the juniorfloor exercise, with ascore of 11.775.[11][12]
At the 2018 Israeli Cup, she won the junior all-aroundbronze medal.[13] Then at the 2018 Austrian Team Open inLinz, Raz helped the Israeli team place 14th, and individually, she placed 17th in the all-around.[14] At the Youth Olympic Games Qualifier inBaku,Azerbaijan, she placed 18th in the floor exercise and 26th in the all-around, and did not qualify for the2018 Summer Youth Olympics.[15][16] At the 2018 Junior Israeli Championships, she placed fifth in the all-around.[17]
On July 14, 2018, inIzvorani [ro],Romania, Raz competed with the Israeli team in a friendly meet against Romania, and placed ninth in the all-around.[18] She competed for Team Israel at the2018 Junior European Championships inGlasgow, Scotland, where the Israeli team finished 23rd.[19] She placed ninth with the Israeli team at the 2018 Olympic Hopes Cup inLiberec,Czech Republic.[20] Then at the2018 Voronin Cup in Moscow, Russia, she placed 10th in the all-around, fourth onvault, sixth on the floor exercise, and eighth on theuneven bars andbalance beam.[21]
Raz made her senior international debut at the 2019 Austrian Team Open inLinz, where she won a silver medal in the vault behind Dutch OlympianEythora Thorsdottir, and placed eighth in the all-around and fourth with the Israeli team.[22] Then at the 2019Stella Zakharova Cup inKyiv,Ukraine, she won the bronze medal on the floor exercise behind Ukrainian OlympianAngelina Radivilova and MalaysianFarah Ann Abdul Hadi, and placed fourth in the vault.[23]
She placed sixth in the vault final at the2019 Osijek World Challenge Cup inCroatia.[24] At the 2019 Israeli Championships, she won her first national all-around title with a total score of 46.350, as she also won gold medals in the uneven bars and the floor exercise, and a silver medal in the vault.[25] Then at the2019 World Championships inStuttgart, Germany, she finished 82nd in the all-around whichqualified her for the 2020 Olympics.[26][27]
At the2020 European Championships inMersin, Turkey, Raz won the bronze medal in the floor exercise event final with a score of 12.750 behind Turkey'sGöksu Üçtaş Şanlı and Romania's Olympic bronze medalistLarisa Iordache.[28] This made her Israel's first-ever medalist at theEuropean Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[10][29] Additionally, she was the third reserve for the vault final, after finishing 11th in the qualification round.[30]
In February 2021, Raz won the bronze medal in the all-around, the gold medal in the vault, and the bronze medal in the all-around at the 2021 Israeli Winter Cup.[31] She won a bronze medal in the vault at the 2021 German Olympic Trials in Munich behind German national championSarah Voss.[32] She then qualified for the all-around final at the2021 European Championships inBasel, Switzerland, and finished 22nd with a total score of 47.499.[33] She won her second national all-around title at the 2021 Israeli Championships.[34]
Raz then representedIsrael at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She finished 15th in the vault with a score of 13.899, and 59th in the all-around duringthe qualification round with a total score of 50.399.[35][36]
Raz finished sixth on the vault and seventh on the balance beam at the2022 Varna World Challenge Cup inBulgaria.[37] Then at the 2022Koper World Challenge Cup inSlovenia, she finished fourth on floor exercise, and seventh on uneven bars and balance beam.[38] At the2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel, at 18 years old she helped the Israeli team win gold, and individually, she swept the gold medals in the women's open events, winning six in all.[39] In July she won the 2022 Israeli All-Around Championships in Tel Aviv.[40] She qualified for the vault final at the2022 European Championships inMunich, Germany, and finished seventh.[41]
She was initially the first reserve for the vault final at the2022 World Championships inLiverpool, United Kingdom.[42] AfterJessica Gadirova withdrew due to an ankle injury, Raz competed in the final and placed eighth.[43][44]
Raz began the season at the 2023 Luxembourg Open, and won the gold medal in the vault final. The Israeli team finished third behind Italy and Spain, and Raz placed sixth in the all-around. She also finished fifth on floor exercise, seventh on uneven bars, and ninth on balance beam.[45] She competed at the2023 European Championships but did not qualify for any finals.[46]
At the2023 Tel Aviv World Challenge Cup, Raz finished sixth on vault and floor exercise, and eighth on balance beam.[47] Then at the RomGym Trophy inBucharest,Romania, she placed sixth in the all-around and fifth in the uneven bars final.[48] She finished 48th in the all-around at the2023 World Championships inAntwerp, Belgium, with a total score of 49.999.[49] Razearned an individual berth as the 13th-highest placing eligible gymnast.[50]
Raz representedIsrael at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She came in 16th in theWomen's vault, and 31st in theWomen's All-Around qualification with a score of 51.632, just missing the final that had a cutoff of 51.698.[51][52][53]
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| Year | Event | Team | AA | VT | UB | BB | FX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior | |||||||
| 2017 | Maccabiah Games | 9 |  | ||||
| 2018 | Israeli Winter Cup |  | |||||
| Austrian Team Open | 14 | 17 | |||||
| Youth Olympic Games Qualifier | 26 | ||||||
| Israeli Championships | 5 | ||||||
| Izvorani Friendly |  | 9 | |||||
| European Championships | 23 | ||||||
| Olympic Hopes Cup | 9 | 24 | |||||
| Voronin Cup | 10 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 6 | ||
| Senior | |||||||
| 2019 | Austrian Team Open | 4 | 8 | ||||
| Stella Zakharova Cup | 8 | 10 | 4 | | |||
| Osijek World Challenge Cup | 6 | ||||||
| Israeli Championships | | ||||||
| World Championships | 82 | ||||||
| 2020 | |||||||
| European Championships | R3 | | |||||
| 2021 | Israeli Winter Cup | | |||||
| European Championships | 22 | ||||||
| Israeli Championships | | ||||||
| Olympic Games | 59 | ||||||
| 2022 | Varna World Challenge Cup | 6 | 7 | ||||
| Koper World Challenge Cup | 7 | 7 | 4 | ||||
| Maccabiah Games | | | | | | | |
| European Championships | 7 | ||||||
| World Championships | 8 | ||||||
| 2023 | Luxembourg Open | | 6 | | 7 | 9 | 5 |
| Tel Aviv World Challenge Cup | 6 | 8 | 6 | ||||
| RomGym Trophy | 6 | 5 | |||||
| World Championships | 48 | ||||||
| 2024 | |||||||
| Olympic Games | R1 | ||||||
| 2025 | Cottbus World Cup | | |||||
| European Championships | 12 | 19 | R1 | ||||
Raz was selected forForbes Israel's 30 Under 30 list for 2021.[54]
