Danielle Frenkel
 Frenkel with the "Woman Athlete of the Year" trophy at the Israel track & field championships; 2011 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname | The Israeli Gravity Bender |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Born | September 8, 1987 |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track & field |
| Event(s) | High jump; Triple jump |
| Coached by | Anatoly Shafran |
| Achievements and titles | |
| National finals | Israeli national high jump champion (2010 & 2011) |
Danielle Frenkel (Hebrew: דניאל פרנקל; born September 8, 1987) is an Israeli high jumper. She was the first Israeli to clear 1.90 meters, and the only one who cleared more than 1.90 meters in international competition.
Biography
Danielle Frenkel was interested in being a professional dancer, and trained for years as a teenager with the Bat-Dor Dance Company.[1][2] Two months after she began her army service, as a guide at Yad Vashem (a memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust), Israeli high jump coach Anatoly Shafran, who had seen her jump in a high school competition when she was 14, began an effort to convince her to jump competitively.[1][2][3] She is a law student at the Interdisciplinary Center. Her nickname is the “Gravity Bender”.[1]
High jumping career
In 2007, when Frenkel began her training with Shafran, she jumped 1.69 meters.[1] In each of the next two years, she improved her personal best by 6 centimeters, jumping 1.81 meters in 2009.[1]
Her breakthrough year was 2010, in which she improved her personal best by 11 centimeters.[1] After several improvements of her personal best, she won the national championships title for the first time, and also became the Israeli record holder with a jump of 1.89m, and few minutes later improved the fresh record to 1.91m. By this achievement, she qualified for the European Championships, held in Barcelona in late July. In the qualifying, she cleared every height in the first attempt, until she set another national record with a jump of 1.92m, and qualified for the Final, becoming the first ever Israeli female athlete to do so. Two days later in the final, her mediocre jump of 1.85m left her in 12th and last place.[4]
In January 2011, Frenkel twice set a new Israeli national indoor record, at 1.87 meters and 1.90 meters.[5][6] In March, at the European Indoor Championships in Paris, she set an Israeli record of 1.94 meters in qualifying. In the final, she reached fourth place with a jump of 1.92m, another best ever achievement for an Israeli woman. In July 2011, she became Israeli national champion for the second consecutive year, with a jump of 1.89 m.[2][7][7][8][9] In August, she had a disappointment at the World Championships in Daegu, as she jumped only 1.85m and failed to qualify. Her season best outdoors was 1.90m, set in June at Neurim.
In June 2011, Frenkel finished fourth in the triple jump at 12.24 meters at the European Team Championships group three in Iceland.[10]
Championships summary
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Israel
| |||||
| 2009 | European U23 Championships | Kaunas, Lithuania | 17th (q) | High jump | 1.72 m |
| 2010 | European Championships | Barcelona, Spain | 12th | High jump | 1.85 m |
| 2011 | European Indoor Championships | Paris, France | 4th | High jump | 1.92 m |
| Universiade | Shenzhen, China | 17th (q) | High jump | 1.75 m | |
| World Championships | Daegu, South Korea | 24th (q) | High jump | 1.85 m | |
See also
- Sports in Israel
- List of Israeli records in athletics
- List of select Jewish track and field athletes
References
- ^ a b c d e f Sinai, Allon (March 9, 2011). "Frenkel's star continues to rise, one centimeter at a time". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Frenkel aims to put Israeli athletics back on the map". European-athletics.org. March 21, 2011. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ "Israeli Sports". Jewish Sports Review. 8 (87): 19. September/October 2011, accessed September 16, 2011.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Alex Carson (August 10, 2010). "Danielle's jump start in Barcelona". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ Alfons Juck (January 30, 2011). "Ukhov tops 2.38m, threatens World record in Hustopece". iaaf.org. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ Jon Mulkeen (January 29, 2011). "Ukhov jumps 2.38m, has close attempts at world record". Athletics Weekly. Archived from the original on March 26, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ a b "National Athletics Championships / London still a long way off for Danielle Frenkel". Haaretz. July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ "Paris: High jumper Danielle Frenkel sets new Israeli record". Ynetnews. May 3, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ "Fourth for Frenkel". The Jewish Chronicle. March 10, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
- ^ Brian Sacks (June 23, 2011). "Ice-cool Israelis". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
