Tohar Butbul

Tohar Butbul (טוהר בוטבול; born 24 January 1994) is an Israeli Olympic judoka. He competes in the under 73 kg weight category, where he won silver medals at the 2019 Judo World Masters and the 2021 European Championships,   and won bronze medals in the 2017 Paris Grand Slam  and 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam. As of March 2018 he was ranked #9 in the world in the U73 kg division. He was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Butbul will represent Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in judo in the men's 73 kg event on 29 July 2024, and in the mixed team event.

He was born in Zoran, Israel.

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

2014–20; European Junior Championships bronze medal
On 19 September 2014, Butbul took part in the under 21 European championship which was held in Bucharest, Romania, and won the bronze medal after defeating Nuno Saraiva of Portugal in the medal match. He won the gold medal in the 2014 European Cup U21 Lignano. He also won the 2014 Israeli U21 Championships and the Israeli Championships in Ra'anana.

Butbul's first medal at a senior competition came at the 2016 European Open Sofia in Bulgaria in January as he won the bronze after he defeated Sam Van't Westende of the Netherlands. On 11 November 2016, Butbul participated in the under 23 European Championship in Tel Aviv and won the silver in the 73 kg weight category after losing to Hidayet Heydarov of Azerbaijan in the final.

On 11 February 2017, Butbul took part at the prestigious Paris Grand Slam for the first time and won a bronze medal. In the quarter-final match he defeated local French Loïc Korval but lost in the semi-final to Japan's Soichi Hashimoto. He then battled for the bronze against Giyosjon Boboev of Uzbekistan and won after he got a Waza-ari in golden score time. He also won the 2017 Israeli Championships in Ra'anana.

In April 2017, Butbul won the bronze medal at the Antalya Grand Prix in Turkey after he defeated Rok Drakšič of Slovenia. Butbul participated in the 2017 European Championships held in Warsaw, Poland, and finished in 5th place after he lost in the semi-final to Russia's Musa Mogushkov and in the bronze medal match to Tommy Macias of Sweden. On June 17, he won the silver medal at the Cancún Grand Prix in Mexico. On October 27, he took part in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the United Arab Emirates and won a bronze medal.

He won bronze medals at the 2018 Judo Grand Prix Zagreb in Croatia and in the 2018 Judo Grand Slam Düsseldorf in Germany.

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

2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021); bronze medal
Butbul represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Competing in the men's 73 kg weight category, Butbul was to start his competition fighting the winner of a match between Algerian Fethi Nourine and Sudanese Mohamed Abdalarasool – who both withdrew instead of facing an Israeli opponent in order to express solidarity with Palestine. Advancing without a fight to the round of 16, Butbul faced Moldova's Victor Sterpu, the 2020 European champion, and beat him with an ippon. At the quarterfinals, he lost to the South Korean 2018 world champion An Chang-rim, keeping a chance to win bronze through the repechage. Losing in the repechage to the Canadian 2016 Pan American champion Arthur Margelidon, Butbul finished the competition in seventh place.

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

2021–present; European Championships silver medal
Butbul won the silver medal in the 2021 European Judo Championships in Lisbon in Portugal. He also won a bronze medal at the 2021 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv in Israel.

He won one of the bronze medals in his event at the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Tel Aviv held in Tel Aviv, Israel. Butbul also won bronze medals in the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Ulaanbaatar in Mongoloia and in the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Budapest in Hungary.

Butbul won the gold medal in the 2023 Judo Grand Prix Linz in Austria in May.

He won a bronze medal at the 2024 Judo Grand Slam Tbilisi in Georgia in March.

2024 Paris Olympics
Butbul will represent Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in judo in the men's 73 kg event on 29 July 2024, and in the mixed team event.

Titles
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