Shoshana Ribner

Shoshana Ribner was born in Vienna, Austria. Her family immigrated to Israel when she was an infant.[4] Ribner began competing as a swimmer at the age of 13. [5][6]Her trainer, 24-year-old Nachum Buch, swam for Israel at the 1952 Summer Olympics.[5]

Ribner's son, Damon Fialkov, was Israel's 200-meter backstroke champion in 1981.[4]

Ribner joined the Brit Maccabi Atid swimming club of Tel Aviv at the age of 13.[5]She won gold medals in the 100-meter and 400-meter crawls at the 1953 Maccabiah Games.[4][6][7] She competed for Israel at the 1956 Summer Olympics, when she was 18 years old, in Melbourne, Australia, in Swimming--Women's 100 metre freestyle.[1] She finished 7th in her heat, with a time of 1:10.3, and did not advance to the finals.[1][4] She was the only female on Israel's 15-person Olympic team.[5] Her best time in the 100 meter freestyle was 1:09.3, and her fastest time for the 400 meter freestyle was 5:42.59, as of 1956.[5] That year she was named Israel's Athlete of the Year.[4][8]

Ribner won two gold medals and two silver medals at the 1957 Maccabiah Games.[4]In 1998, she was named one of Israel's top 50 athletes in its history.[4]

• Sports in Israel