Peter Paltchik

Peter Paltchik was born in 1992 in Yalta

Paltchik was born in 1992 in Yalta, Crimea. His father died of lung cancer when he was a baby, and at 9 months old he moved to Israel with his mother Larisa and settled in Rishon LeZion. While his mother worked in the United States, he grew up with his grandparents.

He was born with crooked bones and health problems, and a doctor advised that he take up sports. At 4 his grandfather sent him to judo at a club in Rishon LeZion. He studied communication at Yigal Alon High School and later studied at Ono Academic College.

He served as a logistics soldier at the Israeli Air Force base in Tzrifin.

At 18 he joined the senior national team under coach Oren Samadja. Knee surgery in 2012 and shoulder surgery after a 2015 injury slowed his career, and he missed the 2016 Rio Olympics. He won bronze at the 2018 European Championships in Tel Aviv and gold at the 2020 European Championships in Prague, after which he was ranked first in the world.

He won a bronze medal in the mixed team event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and a bronze at the 2023 World Championships. At the 2024 Paris Olympics he was Israel's flag bearer and won a bronze medal in the under 100 kg event.