ARTS AND CULTURE

Linoy Ashram

Athlete

19 year-old Israeli athlete Linoy Ashram is one of the world's top rhythmic gymnasts. Since 2014, she has won bronze and silver medals at major international competitions and twice been crowned Israeli Junior national champion. In 2018 alone, her achievements have sky-rocketed, with gold medal victories at an international competition in Spain as well as in the World Cup series that took Ashram to Sofia, Pesaro and Tashkent. She even has a move – the "Ashram" – named after her, in which the gymnast executes a back-bend turn on the floor. Meanwhile, the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 are beckoning. Israel's Olympic Committee is clearly excited, duly noting in August that Ashram was the first athlete to win two gold medals in a single season in the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup. (Photo: Ayelet Zussman / Wikimedia Commons.)