SailingIsrael is a world leader in sailing, with several Olympic medals and numerous medals in various international competitions throughout the world. In fact, the first ever Olympic gold medal won by an Israeli sportsman, won by Gal Friedman for his achievements in the Mistral windsurfer sailing in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. Fittingly, his first name, Gal, means "wave" in Hebrew. Four out of the seven Israeli Olympic medals are from water sports, and apart from Mistral sailing, Israel also holds impressive achievements in 420 sailing, Neil Pryde sailing and kayaking. Just this year, Lee Kurzitz won the gold medal for Neil Pryde woman sailing in the world sailing cup in Australia, and Nimrod Mashiah won the bronze medal in the men’s category.
Matkot
Matkot is a non-competitive beach game in which two or more players hit a small ball back and forth using paddles. The sport is named after the racquet, the matka, although the origin of this word is unclear. It is the most popular paddle ball game in Israel, similar to beach tennis, as for this reason it is often referred to as the country's national sport.