Shachar Sagiv

Early life Sagiv was born in Haifa, Israel, and lived in Zikhron Ya'akov, south of Haifa, and now lives in Ra'anana, Israel. His father is Shemi Sagiv (at the time known as Sabag), who represented Israel as a marathon runner at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, studied medicine, and is now a chiropractor, and his mother Rachela is a special education consultant.

For his bar mitzvah, his father took him to France to watch the Tour de France bicycle competition for a week. When he was 15 years old, Sagiv moved to Israel’s Wingate Institute in Netanya, and attended high school while he trained.

Career Sagiv focused first on the biathlon at age 7, a 300-meter run, 3-kilometer ride, and another 300-meter run, and then ran his first triathlon when he was 8 years old, after he was encouraged by his father. His coach until 2021 was his father; his coach since then has been Lior Cohen, and his club is Maccabi Tel Aviv. He trains between 25 and 30 hours a week. In June 2013, he won the silver medal in the 2013 Kupiskis ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup in Kupiskis, Lithuania, with a time of 57:30. Shachar remarked: "My obligation as an older brother was to take care of my little brother and take him everywhere, so I also took him to the Olympics."

2021–22

In April 2021, Sagiv won the bronze medal in the 2021 Europe Triathlon Cup Melilla in Melilla, Spain, with a time of 49:17, five seconds behind the gold medal winner.

In May 2022, Sagiv won the bronze medal in the 2022 Europe Triathlon Cup Caorle in Caorle, Italy, with a time of 51:23.

2023–24 Most of 2023, Sagiv suffered from a hamstring injury. In April 2023, Sagiv won the gold medal in the 2023 Israel Sprint Triathlon National Championships in Tiberias, Israel, with a time of 55:10.

In February 2024, he came in 4th in the World Triathlon Cup held in Napier, New Zealand, with a time of 49:50 minutes, one second behind third place.

2024 Paris Olympics Sagiv represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the Men's triathlon, and came in 37th out of 55 competitors. In August 2023, he competed in a pre-Olympic competition in Paris to become familiar with the Olympic course, and said: "I know what will happen; it is already imagined in my head." Commenting on the Gaza war, he said: "it's hard for me to be happy with what I'm doing, when I know that my friends and even my partner are still in the reserves, fighting for us. But this is my role in the world, to represent Israel... in the best possible way... this is bigger than the personal goals that have accompanied me until today."

Looking forward, he said he hopes to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the city in which his father competed in the Olympics for Israel in 1984. As he puts it: "I need to close a circle with my father."