![]() Ribner, member of the Israeli swim team (1957) | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Birth name | שושנה ריבנר |
National team | ![]() |
Born | Vienna, Federal State of Austria | February 20, 1938
Died | 29 June 2007 (age 69) |
Sport | |
Sport | Swimming |
Club | Brit Maccabi Atid |
Shoshana Ribner (also "Rivner", Hebrew: שושנה ריבנר; February 20, 1938 [1] – 29 June 2007 [2] [3]) was an Israeli Olympic swimmer. [1]
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 (including a silver medal in the 400 m) at the 1957 Maccabiah Games. [4] [9]
In 1998, she was named one of Israel's top 50 athletes in its history. [4]