Lydia Hatuel-Zuckerman

Lydia Hatoel-Zuckerman (born 15 August 1963, in Casablanca, Morocco) is an Israeli fencer.

One of Israel's top female fencers, she competed in the foil event at the 1984, 1992, and 1996 Olympiads.

Fencing career

Israeli champion

In 1979, at the age of 16, Lydia became Israel's women's fencing champion, a title she would hold for many years. The Guinness Book of World Records listed her after she had won the title 6 straight times.

Olympics

At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, she swept through the 1st round, winning all 6 of her bouts. In the 2nd round, however, she was eliminated from the competition. She finished in 26th place.

She did not compete in the 1988 Seoul Olympics because the fencing competition fell on Yom Kippur.

At the 1992 Barcelona Games she finished in 22nd place.

At the 1996 Atlanta Games, at which she was seeded # 12, she won her first match over Felicia Zimmerman of the U.S., but then lost in the round-of-16 to No. 5 seed Monika Weber-Koszto, 15-13. She finished in 13th place.

In Atlanta, she also competed in the team foil event. The Israelis, who were seeded No. 9, lost to China in the 1st round (29-45), but defeated the United States (45-39) to finish in 9th place. The other members of the team were Ayelet Ohayon and Lilach Parisky.

World Championships and World Cup

In 1991, she finished 8th in the World Championships, and a few years later finished 8th in the 1996 World Cup.

Going into the '96 Olympics she was ranked 11th in the world in women's foil. [http://info.jpost.com/1998/Supplements/Olymp/israel.html]

She also finished 73rd in the foil at the 1999 World Championships. [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:A5pPxbO5xcQJ:www.scottishfencing.8m.com/wc_results/ladies_foil_ind.htm+Lydia+zuckerman+foil&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=77&gl=us]

European Championships

In 2002, the 39-year-old surprised the fencing world by reaching the semifinals of the European Championships, only one-and-a-half months after giving birth to her 3rd child.

Maccabiah Games

At the 2001 Maccabiah Games, she won the bronze medal in the individual foil competition.

Links

* [http://info.jpost.com/1998/Supplements/Olymp/onews_main_10.html Jerusalem Post article, "Hatoel Zuckerman foiled by referee"]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=130 Jews in Sports bio]