Gefen Primo

Israeli judoka (born 2000) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gefen Primo (Hebrew: גפן פרימו; born (2000-03-26)26 March 2000) is an Israeli judoka.[4] She competes in the under 52 kg weight category. She won a gold medal at the 2017 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival. She won individual bronze medals in the 2018 European Championships, 2021 World Championships and 2021 European Championships as well as a team bronze at the 2022 World Championships. Primo represented Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in judo in the women's 52 kg, in which she came in seventh, and in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth.

Nativename
גפן פרימו
Born (2000-03-26) 26 March 2000 (age 26)
OccupationJudoka
Spouse
(m. 2026)
[1]
Quick facts Personal information, Native name ...
Gefen Primo
Primo in 2017
Primo in 2017
Personal information
Native name
גפן פרימו
Born (2000-03-26) 26 March 2000 (age 26)
OccupationJudoka
Spouse
(m. 2026)
[1]
Sport
Country Israel
SportJudo
Weight class52 kg
Rank     4th dan black belt[2]
Achievements and titles
Olympic Games7th (2024)
World Champ.‹See Tfd›Bronze (2021)
European Champ.‹See Tfd›Bronze (2018, 2021)
Highest world ranking5th[3]
Medal record
Women's judo
Representing  Israel
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place2021 Budapest52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2022 TashkentMixed team
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place2018 Tel Aviv52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2021 Lisbon52 kg
World Masters
Bronze medal – third place2023 Budapest52 kg
IJF Grand Slam
Gold medal – first place2021 Paris52 kg
Gold medal – first place2023 Ulaanbaatar52 kg
Gold medal – first place2024 Astana52 kg
Silver medal – second place2025 Tbilisi52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2019 Baku52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2021 Abu Dhabi52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2022 Budapest52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2022 Abu Dhabi52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2023 Paris52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2023 Tokyo52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2026 Tbilisi52 kg
IJF Grand Prix
Gold medal – first place2019 Montreal52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2018 Agadir52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2019 Marrakesh52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2019 Hohhot52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2019 Tashkent52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2022 Zagreb52 kg
Bronze medal – third place2025 Guadalajara52 kg
World Juniors Championships
Silver medal – second place2018 Nassau52 kg
European Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place2017 Maribor52 kg
European Cadet Championships
Silver medal – second place2017 Kaunas52 kg
European Youth Olympic Festival
Gold medal – first place2017 Győr52 kg
Profile at external databases
IJF20206
JudoInside.com95367
Updated on 21 March 2026
Close

Early life

Primo was born in moshav Gan HaShomron, Israel, and is Jewish.[5][6][7] Her mother Meirav Primo is a board member of the Israel Judo Association since 2016.[8] Her younger brother Einav Primo and her younger sister Kerem Primo [he] are both judoka as well; Kerem won the silver medal in the 2021 Junior World Championships, gold medals in the 2021 Junior European and Cadet European championships, and the 2022 European Youth Olympics Championship.[9][5] As of 2015, she moved with her family to moshav Kfar Netter, Israel,[5] to be closer to the judo trainings at the Wingate Institute in the city of Netanya, Israel.[5]

She was enlisted as a soldier in the Israeli Air Force in 2019, which designated her to an excellent sportsperson status.[10]

Judo career

2015–17; European Youth Olympic Champion

Primo won the gold medal in the 2015 Israeli U18 Championships in Ra'anana.[11]

At the 2016 European Cup U21 Athens she won a bronze medal.[11] Primo won gold medals in the 2016 European Cup Cadets Coimbra, 2016 European Cup Cadets Zagreb, and 2016 European Cup Cadets Antalya.[11] She won the gold medal in the 2016 Israeli U21 Championships in Ra'anana.[11]

Primo won the gold medal at the 2017 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Hungary,[12][13][14][15] won the silver medal at the 2017 European Cadet Championships in Kaunas,[16][17][18][19] and a bronze medal in the 2017 European Junior Championships in Maribor, Slovenia.[20][21][22][23] She won the gold medal in the 2017 European Cup Cadets in Coimbra.[11] She won the silver medal in the 2017 European Cup U21 Athens.[11] She won a bronze medal in the 2017 Israeli Championships in Ra'anana.[11]

2018–20; World junior championships silver medal

On 3 February 2018, Primo competed at her first international senior competition at the 'Odivelas European Open' in Portugal and won a bronze medal.[24][25][26] On 9 March, she won her first IJF World Tour medal when she won a bronze medal at the 2018 Agadir Grand Prix.[27][28]

On 26 April, Primo won a bronze medal in the 2018 European Championships in Tel Aviv in the under 52 kg weight category, becoming the youngest Israeli judoka to win a European championships medal.[29][30][31] In the first round she defeated Sofia Asvesta of Cyprus by waza-ari and ippon, in the second round she defeated Charline Van Snick of Belgium by ippon. In the quarter-finals she lost to Evelyne Tschopp of Switzerland. She went on to defeat Anja Štangar of Slovenia in the repechage and reached the bronze medal match where she defeated İrem Korkmaz of Turkey by two waza-ari after her opponent scored one.[31] At 18 years of age, she became the youngest Israeli judoka (among both women and men) to earn a place on a podium at a senior European Championship.[32]

On 18 October, Primo won the silver medal at the 2018 World Juniors Championships in Nassau.[33][34][35][36]

Primo won the gold medal in the 2019 Montreal Grand Prix, and bronze medals in 2019 Marrakesh Grand Prix, 2019 Baku Grand Slam, 2019 Hohhot Grand Prix, and 2019 Tashkent Grand Prix.[11] She won the gold medal in the 2019 Israeli Championships in Tel Aviv.[11]

2021–present; World championships bronze medal

At the 2021 World Championships in Budapest, Primo won a bronze medal.[11][37][38][39] At the 2021 European Championships she also won a bronze medal.[11][40][41][42] She won the gold medal at the 2021 Paris Grand Slam.[11] At the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam held in the United Arab Emirates, she won one of the bronze medals in her event.[43]

Primo won bronze medals at 2022 Budapest Grand Slam, 2022 Zagreb Grand Prix and 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, as well as in the mixed teams event at the 2022 World Championships.[11]

Primo won a gold medal at the 2023 Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam in Mongolia, and bronze medals at 2023 Paris Grand Slam, 2023 Tokyo Grand Slam, and 2023 World Masters in Budapest.[11] Primo won the gold medal in the 2023 Israeli Championships in Eilat.[11]

Primo won the gold medal at 2024 Astana Grand Slam in the 52 kg category in Kazakhstan.[11]

2024 Paris Olympics

Primo represented Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in judo in the women's 52 kg, in which she came in seventh, after losing in the quarter-finals to Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi, a reigning Olympic champion.[44] She also represented Israel in the mixed team event, in which Team Israel came in ninth.[45]

Personal life

On 27 June 2025 Primo got engaged to footballer Eden Shamir.[46][47] The couple got married on 15 January 2026.[1]

Titles

See also

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI