# Tohar Butbul

Tohar Butbul (Hebrew: טוהר בוטבול; born 24 January 1994) is an Israeli retired Olympic judoka. He competes in the under 73 kg weight category, where he won silver medals at the 2019 World Masters and the 2021 European Championships, and won bronze medals in the 2017 Paris Grand Slam and 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam. As of March 2018 he was ranked #9 in the world in the 73 kg division. He was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Butbul represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo in the men's 73 kg event in which he came in ninth, and in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth.

## Early life

Butbul was born in Tzoran, Israel.

## Judo career

Butbul started training in judo when he was five years old at Israeli Olympic bronze medalist Oren Smadja's school.

### 2014–20; European Junior Championships bronze medal

On 19 September, Butbul took part in the 2014 European Junior Championships which was held in Bucharest, Romania, and won a bronze medal after defeating Nuno Saraiva of Portugal in the medal match. He won the gold medal in the 2014 European Cup U21 Lignano. He also won the 2014 Israeli U21 Championships and the Israeli Championships in Ra'anana.
Butbul's first medal at a senior competition came at the 2016 European Open Sofia in Bulgaria in January as he won a bronze after he defeated Sam van 't Westende of the Netherlands. On 11 November, Butbul participated in the 2016 European U23 Championships in Tel Aviv and won the silver in the 73 kg weight category after losing to Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan in the final.
On 11 February, Butbul took part at the prestigious 2017 Paris Grand Slam for the first time and won a bronze medal. In the quarter-final match he defeated local French Loïc Korval but lost in the semi-final to Japan's Soichi Hashimoto. He then battled for the bronze against Giyosjon Boboev of Uzbekistan and won after he got a waza-ari in golden score time. He also won the 2017 Israeli Championships in Ra'anana.
In April, Butbul won the bronze medal at the 2017 Antalya Grand Prix in Turkey after he defeated Rok Drakšič of Slovenia. Butbul participated in the 2017 European Championships held in Warsaw, Poland, and finished in 5th place after he lost in the semi-final to Russia's Musa Mogushkov and in the bronze medal match to Tommy Macias of Sweden. On June, he won the silver medal at the 2017 Cancún Grand Prix in Mexico. On October, he took part in the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the United Arab Emirates and won a bronze medal.
Butbul won bronze medals at the 2018 Zagreb Grand Prix in Croatia and in the 2018 Düsseldorf Grand Slam in Germany.
Butbul won the gold medal at the 2019 Zagreb Grand Prix, silver medals at the 2019 World Masters in Qingdao in China and the 2019 Baku Grand Slam in Azerbaijan, and a bronze medal at the 2019 Tel Aviv Grand Prix. He won a silver medal at the 2019 New York Open Team Championships. He also won the 2019 Israeli Championships in Tel Aviv.

### 2020 Tokyo Olympics (in 2021); bronze medal

Butbul represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Competing in the men's 73 kg weight category, Butbul was to start his competition fighting the winner of a match between Algerian Fethi Nourine and Sudanese Mohamed Abdalarasool – who both withdrew instead of facing an Israeli opponent in order to express solidarity with Palestine. Advancing without a fight to the round of 16, Butbul faced Moldova's Victor Sterpu, the 2020 European champion, and beat him with an ippon. At the quarterfinals, he lost to the South Korean 2018 world champion An Chang-rim, keeping a chance to win bronze through the repechage. Losing in the repechage to the Canadian 2016 Pan American champion Arthur Margelidon, Butbul finished the competition in seventh place.
In the mixed team event, Butbul was a member of the Israeli team that won a bronze medal. He competed three times and one won of his matches.

### 2021–present; European Championships silver medal

Butbul won the silver medal in the 2021 European Championships in Lisbon in Portugal. He also won a bronze medal at the 2021 Tel Aviv Grand Slam in Israel.
Butbul won one of the bronze medals in his event at the 2022 Tel Aviv Grand Slam held in Israel. Butbul also won bronze medals in the 2022 Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam in Mongoloia and in the 2022 Budapest Grand Slam in Hungary.
Butbul won the gold medal in the 2023 Linz Grand Prix in Austria in May.
Butbul won a bronze medal at the 2024 Tbilisi Grand Slam in Georgia in March.

### 2024 Paris Olympics

Butbul represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in judo in the men's 73 kg event, where he won his first match against Messaoud Dris of Algeria who was disqualified, lost his second match to world champion Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan who went on to win the gold medal, and came in ninth. He also competed in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth."