Lea Polonsky

Lea Polonsky (; born 25 May 2002) is an Israeli swimmer. At the 2017 European Youth Olympics she won silver medals in the 200m Medley and the mixed Medley Relay. At the 2019 European Junior Swimming Championships she won a bronze medal in the 200 IM, and at the 2024 European Aquatics Championships she won a gold medal in the freestyle relay, and the silver medal in the 200m medley. Polonsky represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Women's 200 metre freestyle, the 200 metre individual medley, and the 4×200 metre freestyle relay.

Early and personal life

Her hometown is Haifa, Israel, and her parents, Anna and Oleg, are computer science engineers. She was a ballroom dancer for five years as a young child.

Early years; European Youth Olympics silver medals

At the 2017 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Győr, Hungary in July, she won silver medals in the 200m Medley (2:16.19) and the mixed Medley Relay. At the Israel Swimming Cup 2017 in April at 14 years old, she won the 200m Medley (2:17.78).

At the 2020 Rotterdam Qualification Meet in December in the Netherlands, she won the silver medal in the 200 L IM with a time of 2:13.26.

At the 2021 Malmsten Swim Open Stockholm in Sweden in April, she won a gold medal in the Freestyle Relay (8:06.91), and a bronze medal in the Women Freestyle Relay (3:41.6).

At the 2022 NCAA Championships, she swam anchor on Cal's third-place 800 free relay.

She won the 2023 Pac-12 championships in both the 200 individual medley (1:54.02) and the 400 individual medley (4:05.27), and earned First Team All-America honors in the 800 freestyle relay and Second Team honors in both the 200 and 400 IM.

2024–present; European Championship gold and silver medals At the 2024 Pacific 12 Championships in February, she won the silver medal in the 200 Y IM with a time of 1:53.58, and the bronze medal in the 400 Y IM with a time of 4:05.11.

As of June 2024, her personal best in the 200m individual medley is 2:11.18, and her personal best in the 200m freestyle is 01:58.89.