Lea Polonsky

Lea Polonsky was born in 2002 in Haifa

Lea Polonsky was born on 25 May 2002 in Haifa. Her parents, Anna and Oleg, are computer science engineers. Her older brother Ron Polonsky is also a swimmer and competed for Israel at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and she danced ballroom as a young child.

She attended Ironi Hey High School in Haifa and trains with Maccabi Haifa. She later went to the University of California, Berkeley, where she studies computer science and swims for the California Golden Bears.

As a junior she won two silver medals at the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival in Győr and a bronze in the 200 m individual medley at the 2019 European Junior Championships in Kazan. She holds the Israeli record in the 200 m butterfly and has won Israeli titles in several events.

In 2023 she won the Pac-12 titles in the 200 and 400 individual medley. At the 2024 European Championships in Belgrade she won gold in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay and silver in the 200 m medley. She swam for Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics.