Sabag was born in Haifa, Israel, later lived in Zichron Yaakov and Tiberias, Israel, and is Jewish.[5][2][6][7] He started running marathons at age 17, at the urging of a high school coach, but lost three years of training as he served with a tank unit in the Israel Defense Forces.[2][8] He later changed his surname to Sagiv.[9]
In May 1984, in a season in which he was co-captain of the Augustana Vikings Track and Field team, he came in 2nd in the 10,000 meters (in 30:18.48) and 6th in the 5,000 meters, at the NCAA Division III men's outdoor track and field championships in Northfield, Minnesota.[24][21][2] He also set the record in the CCIW 5,000 meters in 1984 (while winning the title for the second straight year), with a time of 14:24.36 (still a CCIW championships record as of 2021), and that year also set the Credit Island Park four-mile course record with a time of 19:33 (as of 2009, that was still a school record in the four-mile).[25][26][27][21][28] In 1984 he won the CCIW cross-country championship, with a time of 24:52.7, after having won the silver medal in 1983, and also won the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Indiana, with a time of 24.06.[29][21][30] He was named team MVP in both 1983 and 1984.[21]
In April 1984 he won his first marathon in his eighth race at that distance, in Chicago, Illinois, in the Lake County Marathon in 2:21:47.[14]
His personal best time in the marathon was 2:18:23, which he ran in June 1984 in Duluth, Minnesota.[3]
1984 Summer Olympics
He competed for Israel at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 25.[3] He had qualified with his time in his third marathon in three and a half months.[31] Running in the Men's Marathon in August 1984 he came in 60th out of 107 competitors, with a time of 2-31:34.[3][32] When he competed in the Olympics, Sabag was 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) tall and weighed 139 pounds (63 kg).[3] Speaking of the Munich Massacre, which had taken place 12 years earlier at the Olympics, he said: "As a representative of Israel, I am here to do what they tried to do. We are here to continue their job."[2]
1984–present; Israel national marathon champion, Vancouver Marathon champion
In December 1984 he won the silver medal in the Tiberias Marathon in Israel, with a time of 2:22:15, behind British marathoner Lindsay Robertson, and won the Israeli national marathon championship.[33][34][35]