Yarden Gerbi nabbed Israel’s first Olympic medal this year.

The Israeli judo fighter Yarden Gerbi made worldwide headlines after she won bronze in the under-63 kilogram weight category in Rio on Tuesday and secured the country’s first Olympic medal since 2008. While Gerbi celebrates her victory over France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou, here are five other interesting facts that you (probably) didn’t know about this 27-year-old athlete.

1) Pins and Needles

A stalwart fan of acupuncture, Gerbi is certainly not afraid of having needles stuck into her body — she’ll often go to sessions prior to her games and post photos of it on her Instagram account.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

I feel better now ?

A photo posted by Yarden Gerbi (@yardengerbi) on Nov 11, 2013 at 11:48pm PST

2)How Many Names?

The judoka has more than one nickname — friends and family members call her Jordan, Gerb or Denush, a diminutive form of “Daniel,” according to her profile on FightSports.

3) What Was The Question?

Fame in the sporting world often manifests itself in unusual ways — in Gerbi’s case, this meant seeing her face appear as a question in a crossword puzzle alongside Israeli singer and TV host Gidi Gov.

Judo fighter Yarden Gorbi was featured in an Israeli crossword puzzle. Image by Instagram

4) Education

Before she was an Olympic medalist, Gerbi was a student. She studied economics and management at Open University of Israel, a distance-education college.

5) Pass The Puzzle Piece

Gerbi is also interested in putting together regular puzzle pieces in her spare time — preferably ones that combine her passion for Judo as well.

A photo posted by Yarden Gerbi (@yardengerbi) on Oct 20, 2015 at 3:38am PDT

Contact Veronika Bondarenko at [email protected] or on Twitter, @veronikabond.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount