Or Sasson

Or "Ori" Sasson (; born 18 August 1990) is a retired He won a bronze medal in the +100 kg category at the 2016 Summer Olympics and another one at the mixed team event at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He was the second Israeli to win two Olympic medals.

In June 2015, representing Israel at the 2015 European Games in judo in the +100 kg category in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sasson won a silver medal at the 2015 European Championships which was held during the European Games.

Early and personal life Sasson was born in Jerusalem, to a family of Kurdish Jewish descent. His parents are Varda and Haim Sasson. He is the younger brother of former judoka and Israel national judo team captain Alon Sasson, who, when they were children, would hit him to show him who was boss.

In 2020, Sasson competed in the Israeli version of The Masked Singer reality singing show, hiding in full-body falafel sandwich costume, and finished third.

In 2024, Sasson competed in the 10th season of Israel's Rokdim Im Kokhavim ('Dancing with the Stars'), where he was eliminated as the 5th couple out of 21, before reaching the live show stage.

Judo career Sasson started training in judo when he was eight years old. In September 2011 he competed in the Judo World Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where Iranian Javad Mahjoub was slated to face him, but refused.

In February 2012, he won a gold medal in the World Cup Prague in judo at +100 kg. In February 2013 and the following month, Sasson won gold medals in the European Open Tbilisi, Georgia and the European Open Warsaw at 100 kg. In September 2014, he won a gold medal at the European Open Tallinn in Estonia at +100 kg, as he weighed approximately 115 kg and returned from surgery on an injured thumb.

On 26 June, representing Israel at the 2015 European Games in judo in the +100 kg category (while weighing 120 kg) in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sasson won a silver medal for Israel in the inaugural European Games, and in doing so won the silver medal in the 2015 European Championships.

Sasson won the silver medal at the 2016 European Championships.

Rio Olympics At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Sasson faced against Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby in the first round. When the match ended, Sasson tried to shake his opponent's hand, but El Shahaby refused—to loud boos and jeers from the near-capacity crowd for El Shahaby's behavior. El Shahaby later announced that he was retiring from judo.

Sasson then defeated Polish judoka Maciej Sarnacki, defeated Dutch judoka Roy Meyer, and overcame Cuban judoka Alex García Mendoza. His only loss was in the semi-finals against the eventual gold medal winner French judoka Teddy Riner.

On 8 October, Sasson competed at the 2017 Tashkent Grand Prix, his first competition since the 2016 Olympics, and won the gold medal. On 28 October, he won the bronze medal at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam after he defeated of Belgium by waza-ari.

Sasson won the silver medal in the 2018 Zagreb Grand Prix, the gold medal at the 2019 Tel Aviv Grand Prix, the silver medal at the 2019 Ekaterinburg Grand Slam and the gold medal at the 2019 Budapest Grand Prix.

Sasson represents Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, competing at the men's +100 kg weight category. Sasson was drawn directly into the second round, where he again met Rinner, the only judoka to beat him in the last Olympics. Much like in 2016, the ten-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion Frenchman beat Sasson by a waza-ari, this time eliminating him from the individual competition.

On 31 July 2020 at the mixed team event, Sasson won his second Olympic bronze medal as part of the Israel national judo mixed team. Year Tournament Place Weight class Ref. 2009 Maccabiah Games Gold −100 kg 2013 Grand Prix Ulaanbaatar Bronze European Championships 5th 2014 Grand Prix Zagreb Bronze +100 kg 2015 Grand Prix Düsseldorf Bronze European Games Silver Grand Prix Tbilisi Silver European Championships Silver Summer Olympics Bronze