Tohar Butbul

Butbul in 2017
Personal information
Native name	טוהר בוטבול‎
Nationality	Israeli
Born	(1994-01-24)24 January 1994 (age 31) Tzoran,Israel
Occupation	Judoka
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Sport
Country	Israel
Sport	Judo
Weight class	‍–‍73 kg
Rank	3rd dan black belt[1]
Coached by	Oren Smadja
Retired	27 February 2025[3][4]
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games	7th (2020)
World Champ.	5th(2022)
European Champ.	(2021)
Highest world ranking	4th[5][6]
Medal record Men'sjudo Representing Israel Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Mixed team European Championships 2021 Lisbon ‍–‍73 kg World Masters 2019 Qingdao ‍–‍73 kg IJF Grand Slam 2019 Baku ‍–‍73 kg 2017 Paris ‍–‍73 kg 2017 Abu Dhabi ‍–‍73 kg 2018 Düsseldorf ‍–‍73 kg 2021 Tel Aviv ‍–‍73 kg 2022 Tel Aviv ‍–‍73 kg 2022 Ulaanbaatar ‍–‍73 kg 2022 Budapest ‍–‍73 kg 2024 Tbilisi ‍–‍73 kg IJF Grand Prix 2019 Zagreb ‍–‍73 kg 2023 Linz ‍–‍73 kg 2017 Cancún ‍–‍73 kg 2017 Antalya ‍–‍73 kg 2018 Zagreb ‍–‍73 kg 2019 Tel Aviv ‍–‍73 kg European U23 Championships 2016 Tel Aviv ‍–‍73 kg European Junior Championships 2014 Bucharest ‍–‍73 kg
Profile at external databases
IJF	16638
JudoInside.com	85104
Updated on 23 March 2024

Tohar Butbul (Hebrew:טוהר בוטבול; born 24 January 1994) is an Israeli retired^[3][4] Olympicjudoka.^[7] He competes in the under 73 kg weight category, where he won silver medals at the2019 World Masters^[8][9] and the2021 European Championships,^[10][11][12] and won bronze medals in the2017 Paris Grand Slam^[13][14] and2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam.^[15][16] As of March 2018 he was ranked #9 in the world in the 73 kg division.^[17] He was a member of theIsraeli team that won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Butbul representedIsrael at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo in themen's 73 kg event in which he came in ninth, and in themixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth.

Butbul was born inTzoran, Israel.^[18]

Butbul started training in judo when he was five years old at Israeli Olympic bronze medalistOren Smadja's school.

On 19 September, Butbul took part in the2014 European Junior Championships which was held in Bucharest, Romania, and won a bronze medal after defeatingNuno Saraiva of Portugal in the medal match.^[19][20] He won the gold medal in the 2014 European Cup U21 Lignano.^[21] He also won the 2014 Israeli U21 Championships and the Israeli Championships inRa'anana.^[21]

Butbul's first medal at a senior competition came at the 2016 European Open Sofia in Bulgaria in January as he won a bronze after he defeatedSam van 't Westende of the Netherlands.^[22][23]On 11 November, Butbul participated in the2016 European U23 Championships in Tel Aviv and won the silver in the 73 kg weight category after losing toHidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan in the final.^{[24][25][26][27]}

On 11 February, Butbul took part at the prestigious2017 Paris Grand Slam for the first time and won a bronze medal.^[13][14] In the quarter-final match he defeated local FrenchLoïc Korval but lost in the semi-final to Japan'sSoichi Hashimoto. He then battled for the bronze againstGiyosjon Boboev of Uzbekistan and won after he got awaza-ari in golden score time.^[28] He also won the 2017 Israeli Championships in Ra'anana.^[21]

In April, Butbul won the bronze medal at the2017 Antalya Grand Prix in Turkey^[29][30] after he defeatedRok Drakšič of Slovenia. Butbul participated in the2017 European Championships held in Warsaw, Poland, and finished in 5th place after he lost in the semi-final to Russia'sMusa Mogushkov and in the bronze medal match toTommy Macias of Sweden.^[31][32][33] On June, he won the silver medal at the2017 Cancún Grand Prix in Mexico.^[34][35] On October, he took part in the2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the United Arab Emirates and won a bronze medal.^[15][16]

Butbul won bronze medals at the2018 Zagreb Grand Prix in Croatia and in the2018 Düsseldorf Grand Slam in Germany.^[21]

Butbul won the gold medal at the2019 Zagreb Grand Prix, silver medals at the2019 World Masters in Qingdao in China and the2019 Baku Grand Slam in Azerbaijan, and a bronze medal at the2019 Tel Aviv Grand Prix.^[21] He won a silver medal at the 2019 New York Open Team Championships.^[21] He also won the 2019 Israeli Championships in Tel Aviv.^[21]

Butbul representedIsrael at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Competing in themen's 73 kg weight category, Butbul was to start his competition fighting the winner of a match between AlgerianFethi Nourine and SudaneseMohamed Abdalarasool – who both withdrew instead of facing an Israeli opponent in order to express solidarity with Palestine.^[36][37][38] Advancing without a fight to the round of 16, Butbul faced Moldova'sVictor Sterpu, the 2020 European champion, and beat him with an ippon. At the quarterfinals, he lost to the South Korean 2018 world championAn Chang-rim, keeping a chance to win bronze through the repechage. Losing in the repechage to the Canadian 2016 Pan American championArthur Margelidon, Butbul finished the competition in seventh place.^{[39][40][41][42]}

In themixed team event, Butbul was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal. He competed three times and one won of his matches.^[43]

Butbul won the silver medal in the2021 European Championships in Lisbon in Portugal.^[21] He also won a bronze medal at the2021 Tel Aviv Grand Slam in Israel.^[21]

Butbul won one of the bronze medals in his event at the2022 Tel Aviv Grand Slam held in Israel.^[44] Butbul also won bronze medals in the2022 Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam in Mongoloia and in the2022 Budapest Grand Slam in Hungary.^[21]

Butbul won the gold medal in the2023 Linz Grand Prix in Austria in May.^[21]

Butbul won a bronze medal at the2024 Tbilisi Grand Slam in Georgia in March.^[21]

Butbul representedIsrael at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo in themen's 73 kg event, where he won his first match againstMessaoud Dris of Algeria who was disqualified, lost his second match to world championHidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan who went on to win the gold medal, and came in ninth.^[45][46][47] He also competed in themixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth.^[48]"^[49]

• List of Jewish Olympic medalists

Source:^[50][7]

Year	Tournament	Place	Ref.
2017	Grand Slam Paris		[13][14]
	Grand Prix Antalya		[29][30]
	Grand Prix Cancún		[34][35]
	Grand Slam Abu Dhabi		[15][16]
2018	Grand Slam Düsseldorf		[51][52]
	Grand Prix Zagreb		[53][54]
2019	Grand Prix Tel Aviv		[55][56]
	Grand Slam Baku		[57][58]
	Grand Prix Zagreb		[59][60]
	World Masters		[8][9]
2021	Grand Slam Tel Aviv		[61][62]
	European Championships		[10][11][12]
2022	Grand Slam Tel Aviv		[63][64][65]
	Grand Slam Ulaanbaatar		[66][67][68]
	Grand Slam Budapest		[69][70][71]
2023	Grand Prix Linz		[72][73][74]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTohar Butbul.

• Tohar Butbul at theEuropean Judo Union
• Tohar Butbul at theInternational Judo Federation
• Tohar Butbul at JudoInside.com
• Tohar Butbul at AllJudo.net (in French)
• Tohar Butbul atOlympics.com
• Tohar Butbul at theOlympic Committee of Israel (archived) (in Hebrew)
• Tohar Butbul atOlympedia
• Tohar Butbul at The-Sports.org
• Tohar Butbul onInstagram

• 1994 births
• Living people
• European Games competitors for Israel
• Israeli male judoka
• Israeli Mizrahi Jews
• Jewish Israeli sportspeople
• Judoka at the 2019 European Games
• Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Judoka at the 2024 Summer Olympics
• Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Olympic medalists in judo
• Olympic bronze medalists for Israel
• Olympic judoka for Israel
• Olympic Games controversies
• Sportspeople from Central District (Israel)
• 21st-century Israeli sportsmen

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