Delila Hatuel

Delila Hatuel

Personal information
Native name	דלילה חטואל‎
Born	(1980-11-15) 15 November 1980 (age 44) Acre, Israel
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)[1]
Weight	51 kg (112 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Israel
Sport	Fencing
Event	Foil
Club	Olympic Fencing Center Akko[1]
Coached by	Haim Hatuel[1]
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	9th (April 2008)[2]

Delila Hatuel (Hebrew: דלילה חטואל; born November 15, 1980) is an Israeli Olympic foil fencer.^[3] She represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and was ranked ninth in the world.

Biography

Hatuel was born in Acre, Israel, in 1980.^[3][4] Her brother Maor is also a fencer, as is her aunt Lydia Hatuel-Czuckermann^[5][6] and her uncle Yitzhak Hatuel.^[6] Hatuel, alongside her father and aunt, trains children in fencing at Acre's Olympic Fencing Center.^[6]

Career

Hatuel finished ninth in the team foil 1997 World Fencing Championships in Cape Town, South Africa, and eighth in the team foil 1998 European Fencing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.^[7]

In July 2007, Hatuel finished sixth in individual foil at the European Fencing Championships, in Ghent, Belgium.^[7][8] Throughout 2008, she finished in the top 10 in the Fencing World Cup circuit, and was ranked in the top 16 in the world.^[8]

In April 2008, she was ranked 9th in the world in women's foil.^[2] In July 2008, at the 2008 European Fencing Championships in Kyiv, Ukraine, she defeated Olympic foil champion Valentina Vezzali, but injured her knee at the end of the bout. She finished seventh in individual foil in the tournament.^[7]

Her injury included a torn anterior cruciate ligament, which had to be surgically repaired.^[5][9] She underwent treatment in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin, Israel, so that she would be well enough to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Exposure to oxygen under high pressure speeds up the body's natural healing process.^[9]

Hatuel, then ranked 11th in the world, represented Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in foil fencing, at 27 years of age.^[3][6] She came in 19th, losing 10–9 to reigning world title holder Viktoriya Nikishina of Russia, who was part of the gold medal-winning Russian team.^[3][10][11] Hatuel tied the match with less than a minute remaining, and was defeated in overtime.^[12] Hatuel later said: "I'm sad, but this loss has nothing to do with my injury. I lost in a tight match."^[13] However, a reporter for Haaretz said "it seems that Hatuel's knee injury was agonizing".^[12] Hatuel said she would be undergoing further surgery and hoped to participate at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.^[12]

In 2009, Hatuel won the gold medal at the 2009 Maccabiah Games in women's foil.^[14]

In 2014 she won the European Games Baku Senior Women's Foil Qualification Tournament in Budapest, Hungary.^[15]

She took 24th at the 2015 European Senior Women Foil Championships in Montreux, Switzerland, and 31st at the 2016 European Senior Women Foil Championships in Torun, Poland.^[16]`

Hatuel was ranked 9th in the world in 2016, and qualified to fence in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio in Women's foil by virtue of her performance at the Championnats De Qualification Europeans on April 16, 2016, in Prague, Czech Republic.^[17] But the Israel Olympic Committee applied higher standards than did the International Olympic Committee—whose standards she met, and Hatuel was not allowed to fence at the 2016 Summer Olympic.^[18][19][20]

See also

• List of select Jewish fencers
  • List of Israeli athletes § Fencing
• Sports in Israel

References

1. "Baku 2015 1St European Games – Athletes – HATUEL Delila". Baku 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
2. "Fencing Ranking: Delila HATUEL". Nahouw.net. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
3. "Delila Hatuel Biography and Olympic Results". Sports-reference.com. August 11, 2008. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
4. "Jews in the Olympics: 63 Athletes, 7 Countries". Jewishinstlouis.org. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
5. Talshir, Uri (September 21, 2011). "Fencing / Living by the sword". Haaretz. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
6. Teddy Fassberg (June 13, 2008). "Double-edged foil". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
7. "Hatuel Delila – Biography". European Fencing Confederation. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
8. Sinai, Allon (July 16, 2008). "Guide to Israel's Olympic Team: Delila Hatuel". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved November 10, 2011.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
9. Judy Siegal-Itzkovich. "Health Scan; Defeating the Disease". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
10. "Beijing: Fencer Delilah Hatuel ousted from Olympic race". Ynetnews. Ynet. November 8, 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
11. "Israel at the Olympics; Israeli team secures victories in swimming, sailing, tennis; Peer-Obziler match cancelled due to rain". Ynet. November 8, 2008. Archived from the original on January 8, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
12. Hipsh, Rami (August 21, 2010). "Peer pulls through to next stage". Haaretz. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
13. Miki Sagui and Sa'ar Haas (November 8, 2008). "Beijing: Swimmer Alon Mandel sets new national record". Ynet. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
14. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
15. EG Baku Qualification Tournament | European Fencing Confederation^{[permanent dead link‍]}
16. HATUEL Delila - Biography | European Fencing Confederation
17. "Olympic Games preview – Part IV".
18. Olympic Games preview – Part IV | Jewish News, Times of Israel.
19. Olympics: Zonal qualification complete - News - Media - FIE, International Fencing Federation.
20. "Naschitz Brandes Amir | The Case of Delila Hatuel and The Olympic Committee". Archived from the original on 2017-12-26. Retrieved 2017-12-26.

External links

• Delila Hatuel at the International Fencing Federation
• Delila Hatuel at the European Fencing Confederation
• Delila Hatuel at Olympedia (archive)
• Delila Hatuel at Olympics.com
• Delila Hatuel at Eurofencing (archived)
• Delila Hatuel at nahouw.net (archived)
• Delila Hatuel at the Baku 2015 European Games (archived)
• Delila Hatuel on Instagram