Yael Arad (55) gets up every morning at a quarter to six.
"I know a lot of people who get up at this time or earlier. I do yoga, flexibility or strength exercises to organize my back, and then start the day with emails and updates. I'm in meetings from seven thirty in the morning and business activities until five thirty. Then I deal with the activities of the Olympic Committee until evening hours".
Arad (55), divorced and mother of two, Israel's first Olympic medalist (silver medal in judo, Barcelona 1992), is used to a busy schedule to the point of bursting.
As someone who was champion of Israel, runner-up of the world and champion of Europe (Athens 1993), the race to the top is no stranger to her.
Today she divides her time between the business world - where she manages the commercial activities of the Paramount Group in Israel - advises in the world of gaming and sits on boards of directors, and her activities for the past year as the chairman of the Olympic Committee in Israel, a position which she fills, by the way, on a voluntary basis. This year she joined for the first time Also for a new biotech company, which produces a product to detect cervical cancer.
In all your pursuits, have you ever encountered a glass ceiling?
"No, but I don't think there is one. However, I go forward to all the places I want to go and act in the way I think should act. It's not personal at all for me."
Maybe. But for many women this is a real problem
.
"That's why I think that we, as women, need to make sure that the door remains open after us for other women. We can't be indifferent. As employers, we have to make sure that women earn the same as men, that they grow and develop, and we have to help them. Don't think, 'They will manage like I did.' I think that many women who came Key positions understand this very well."
Mookie.
Towards 2024, photo: EPA
A secular and liberal Tel Aviv house
Arad is the daughter of the journalists Aryeh Arad (deceased) and Nurit Arad. Her brothers are the public relations man Eyal Arad, the judge Dror Arad-Ilon and Yuval Arad, the head of the Kochav Yair-Zur Yigal local council, and her sister is Dr. Michal Arad, a brain researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
After 25 years of marriage with hotelier Lior Kahana, the two parted ways three years ago.
"We are on very good terms, we parted amicably," she says of the father of her children.
Their son Tom (24) returned this month from a long trip to Brazil, and Daniel (21) sees her mother almost every day.
Arad also does not give up frequent meetings with her mother, Nurit.
"She is the most important thing for me, I spend a lot of time with her. We talk twice a day, and every weekend we eat together. I love her and we are very close."
She describes the house where she grew up as Tel Avivian, secular and liberal.
"I came from a very egalitarian home, the key of
The house had a positive atmosphere.
We were brought up so that every child who said he wanted something - he was told 'go ahead, get it'.
Once that's the atmosphere at home, where anything is possible, it brings out into the world boys and girls who don't think there's anything that can stop them.
It's not that we don't fail, but I know that when I want something, I set a goal and I will work hard to achieve it."
Like the role of chairman of the Olympic Committee, which you marked for yourself years ago.
"This is something that has significance beyond myself. As an athlete, I always thought that one day a male or female athlete should be the head of the Olympic Committee. This is something that I aspired to and it was very important for me to reach this position, which is closing a circle for me. It is important that there be a combination of managerial abilities and people who really They experienced all the processes first hand and deeply understand the complexity of being an Olympic athlete."
In your opinion, is there any significance to the fact that a woman is the chairman of the committee?
"The main thing in my eyes is my presence as an athlete. The fact that I'm a woman is a bonus. I don't look at my gender. This means that I serve as an example for athletes - for example, when I arrive in sports clothes at a taekwondo hall, a swimming pool or an athletics stadium, and I broadcast that I and they are the same. I write to them before successful competitions, also after, and when they are disappointed. I know how to write to them as someone who has experienced the things. It is a brotherhood of athletes, and it is a special personal touch, beyond strategy and vision."
And on the gender level?
"I understand that this gives perspective to a great many women who never dreamed of management and leadership positions. They come to consult with me and feel confident to ask questions. They show weaknesses to me and I show weaknesses to them, so that they know that not everything is easy and perfect. We have not seen many women in managerial positions in sports. Today, many More women are coming to be CEOs of unions and are starting to polish their eyes for senior positions.
They work hard and are not ashamed to fight for their place and their salary.
In my eyes, this is a charming phenomenon."
Timna Nelson-Levy in the competition.
Expectations for a medal, photo: Oren Aharoni
Great shortage of women artists
During her years at the Olympic Committee, Arad initiated many programs, including broad programs to encourage women to become the next Olympic coaches, headed by Molly Epstein.
"There was a great lack of women artists, and as soon as women came because the unions placed them and supported them, women came to us at a very high level, personally and professionally."
At the same time, she launched a board of directors course, headed by Brigadier General Suzy Yogev, who was the Chief of Staff's adviser on women's issues.
"Even though we called the project a 'directorship course,' many CEOs who received the invitation signed up," reveals Arad, "but the course was for women.
Within two days, 120 women, lawyers, former athletes, high-tech women, female CEOs, women from the sports centers and various associations signed up. It flooded us with excitement. As soon as you invite them, they come. I realized what a thirst there is in Israeli sports for high-level training."
What else needs to happen for women to make an impact in sports?
"I invest a lot to promote women. The method for promoting sectors is to give rods and not fish. Training and mentoring are what will strengthen women and other sectors. We don't have enough coaches. We analyzed it and understood the complexity of the role for female athletes in the past, and we are taking care of it. I want to see more Women chairpersons.
Today, out of 32 Olympic associations, we only have two female chairpersons. It's complicated to be the chairperson of an association, you have to want it very much and understand that there are struggles there. But it is possible."
What is your position on the Omar Atzili case?
"I want sportsmen and women to know that they have a great public responsibility, and if they have done things that are not criminal but also immoral, they sin twice - once for general morality and a second time for their public status as opinion leaders and influencers. I think that comes along with publicity. As athletes , this is part of our commitment. From the beginning everything that happened in this case will not be done, and it should not have happened."
Did you support the decision to return him to the Israeli national team?
"I didn't like the decision to return him to the national team without an orderly process. A public organization must have orderly processes to decide if he should return and under what conditions. I also told the chairman, Oren Hasson.
He should not have been invited to the national team before it became clear if he understood the consequences of his actions.
If a committee had decided on a two-year suspension, on workshops and a public apology - this, in my opinion, would have qualified his return to the national team.
Since this was not done, the order was incorrect.
In my opinion, he did the right thing when he listened to what the audience and the public were telling him - and retired."
On the Omar Atzili affair: "Sportsmen and sportswomen have a great public responsibility, and if they have done things that are not criminal but also immoral, they sin twice: once to general morality and a second time to their public status as opinion leaders and influencers", photo: Alan Shiver
And yet, today there is still sexual harassment in world and Israeli sports.
"The issue of women being protected in sports is very important to me. We need to learn from what happened in the world, in the US, Korea and other countries.
We learned about many cases of sexual harassment and abuse.
Brigadier General Suzy Yogev heads the committee for gender equality here at the Olympic Committee, and we are learning where the soft underbelly is.
"The main complexity lies in the relationship between the team and the male and female athletes.
The basic relationships are different from what happens in the labor market.
The athletes are younger than the team.
The coaches are mature, even if they are only 25 years old, and the emotional intensity is very strong.
The trainer is God for the athlete.
Whatever they say - he will do.
It is not an equal relationship in the first place.
That's why for several years now we've been giving training to three groups: owners of conversions, coaches and staff members.
"We hold workshops, and the participants sign a contract at the end. There is training for sportsmen and women, and we also create a discourse within the system, and training is given to the shell - to CEOs and chairmen, who are not in contact with the athletes. Still, I am not calm about this matter. There could be girls Intelligence from the best houses, and also athletes from the periphery, whose coaches are the most powerful people in their lives. We need to make sure that the athletes have a convenient communication channel to tell us everything, even anonymously, by email or post."
Were there any cases that were revealed to you?
"In most cases we don't reveal it to the public, and we don't conduct a field trial. Even for coaches there is a thin line that sometimes gets crossed. In the end these are people, and people really do fall in love. But a coach must know that falling in love with a 16-17-year-old girl is illegitimate, and that is the responsibility It's up to him to know how to take care of her and himself."
On the Alex Giladi case: "Friendship in my eyes is to be there and enjoy not only the company of a person, but to stand by him even when he makes a mistake or faces crises. I did not have in his life, and certainly not after his death, the tools to judge whether he committed offenses or drove in a way that was not Holm", photo: Gideon Markovich
You were a good friend of Alex Giladi and paid tribute to him at his grave. At the same time, you are working on the promotion of women's status and women's rights. Isn't there a contradiction here?
"Alex Giladi was a very significant person in world Olympic sports, rich in knowledge and experience, who did a lot for sports in Israel. For me personally, he was a mentor in the world sports arena. Friendship in my eyes is to be there and enjoy not only the friendship of a person, but to stand by him even when he makes a mistake or faces crises. It is a fact that all of Alex's friends and girlfriends stayed by his side in his fight to clear his name. In any case, I did not have in his life, and certainly not after his death, the tools to judge whether he committed crimes or drove inappropriately. The accusations against him were never clarified by the police or in court".
The focus now is on the Olympic Games that will open in France in 2024. In the past, there were suspicions of corruption in the Olympic Committee, and we saw what happened in FIFA with the selection of Qatar to host the World Cup. Do you think similar suspicions will also arise near the Paris Games?
"The International Olympic Committee headed by Thomas Bach has gone through serious and significant processes in recent years, and today it is the most organized and proper corporation in the world of sports. It is true that the choice of Qatar was strange. Not only the transfer of the games to November-December, in the middle of the season, but also the whole painful issue of human rights and passion" B.
There is a big gap between FIFA and the footballers, who made beautiful gestures and their behavior is worthy of note. But what has happened has already happened. In the future, we need to make sure that the super organizations receive, in addition to administrative responsibility, also sporting, value and moral leadership, and make sure that their influence is good. In the end, this is a window A global showcase. If you choose a country where human rights, women's and LGBT people's rights are violated - that's a problem."
On the World Cup in Qatar: "We need to make sure that the super-organizations receive, in addition to administrative responsibility, also value and moral leadership, and make sure that their influence is good. This is a global showcase, and if you choose a country where human rights, women's and LGBT people's rights are violated - that's a problem", photo: Reuters
What are your expectations from the Israeli delegation to Paris 2024?
"We will arrive at the Olympics with a team of about 60-70 sportsmen and women. We also have team teams, but most of the delegation is made up of individual sportsmen and women. We expect to reach 18 to 20 disciplines, and to preserve new disciplines that we reached in Tokyo. There are our traditional disciplines, which are athletics, swimming, judo, artistic gymnastics, triathlon and cycling. Archery, for example, is a new branch that we want to preserve. Climbing is another branch in which we invest a lot, as well as surfing. Achievements in new branches give a great boost and motivation and increase budgets."
Will we see medals from judo?
"I believe so. I see a very strong work by Raz Hershko, Timna Nelson-Levy and Gefen Primo, and besides them there are other athletes who are progressing, and I have no doubt that they will fight for medals. The boys, Yam Volchek and Tohar Botbol, are also strong, and so is Peter Pletz "Yik and Sagi Muki have not yet said the last word. Judo is our strong branch, but at the end of the day, sport is not an insurance company, and we are only one of 206 countries that come to fight."
This year you had a personal closing of the circle, marking the
50th anniversary of the 11th athlete disaster at the Munich Olympics.
"I had the privilege of chairing the Olympic Committee in the 50th year of the disaster. It was especially exciting because as a young athlete I dedicated my medal to the families of the athletes. The ceremony I led this year was powerful and very moving. I had a great sense of responsibility. I wanted to do something different this year, That's why we asked the committee for a state ceremony. The Minister of Sports agreed, and it became a bigger move."
Why did it take decades to mention the disaster at the Olympics?
"All my predecessors in the Olympic Committee worked very hard, together with the families of the victims, to demand, request and explain so that there would be a reference even earlier. Today the Olympic movement is being cleansed of the stain that stuck to it. The step was taken late, but it was done. In my view, a very important historical justice was done here."
shishabat@israelhayom.co.il
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