{"id":476874,"date":"2026-06-05T02:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/476874\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T02:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:06:10","slug":"yael-arad-awarded-chaim-herzog-prize-for-contribution-to-israel-incredibly-moving-f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/476874\/","title":{"rendered":"Yael Arad awarded Chaim Herzog Prize for contribution to Israel: ‘incredibly moving f"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yael Arad, Israel\u2019s first Olympic medalist and current chair of the Olympic Committee of Israel, was awarded the Chaim Herzog Prize for her unique contribution to the State of Israel in a ceremony at the President\u2019s Residence.<\/p>\n

The prize, awarded by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in partnership with Yad Chaim Herzog, was presented in the presence of President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog, Hebrew University President Professor Tamir Sheafer and university chancellor Professor Menahem Ben-Sasson.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"Yael<\/a>\"Yael<\/p>\n

Yael Arad receives the Chaim Herzog Prize from President Isaac Herzog and Hebrew U President Professor Tamir Sheafer <\/p>\n

(Photo: Maayan Toaf\/GPO)<\/p>\n

Arad won Israel\u2019s first Olympic medal in judo at the 1992 Barcelona Games, and dedicated it to the 11 Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics. She later became a leading figure in Israeli sports and now serves as a member of the International Olympic Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very proud that the prize named after my father, Chaim Herzog, is being awarded to Yael Arad, who broke every glass ceiling \u2014 from Israel\u2019s first Olympic medal to her achievements as president of the Olympic Committee,\u201d President Isaac Herzog said. \u201cHe was the president who proudly sent Yael to the Olympics and welcomed her back with Israel\u2019s first medal.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2 View gallery <\/p>\n

\"Yael<\/a>\"Yael<\/p>\n

Yael Arad with President Isaac Herzog and Michael Herzog <\/p>\n

(Photo: Maayan Toaf\/GPO)<\/p>\n

Arad called the award \u201can incredibly moving full circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, joining the extraordinary list of prize recipients is a great privilege,\u201d she said. \u201cIn 1992, when I won the Olympic medal, President Chaim Herzog blessed us with success and welcomed us home victorious. For me, it is a deeply moving closing of a circle that his son, the 11th president, Isaac Herzog, and Mrs. Michal Herzog have accompanied me through many challenges in the international arena in recent years in my role as chair of the Olympic Committee of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheafer said Arad \u201cembodies determination, excellence, mental resilience, leadership and managerial ability,\u201d adding that the university and Yad Chaim Herzog were proud to honor her.<\/p>\n

The prize is awarded every two years on the anniversary of the death of Israel\u2019s sixth president. This year\u2019s ceremony was postponed because of Operation Roaring Lion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yael Arad, Israel\u2019s first Olympic medalist and current chair of the Olympic Committee of Israel, was awarded the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-476874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}