Bat-El Gatterer
Encyclopedia
Bat-El Gatterer is an Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i Olympic taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...

 athlete. She was the women's 2010 European featherweight champion.

Biography

Gatterer was born in and lives in the Israeli settlement
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...

 of Kokhav Ya'akov
Kokhav Ya'akov
Kokhav Ya'akov is a religious communal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is located between Ramah in Benjamin and Bet-El near al-Bireh, and is about 10 minutes away by car from the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze'ev and Neve Yaakov. It falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin...

, on a hilltop in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

. Her parents had moved to Kohav Yaakov shortly after it was founded in 1984. It has 5,000 residents, and is a 15-to-20-minute drive from Jerusalem, where her primary training center is located. She describes it as "a great place". She is the eldest of six children, and served in the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

 for two years.

She is a religiously observant Jew. Consequently, she does not travel by car on the Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

, and often must walk long distances to her competition venue. To keep kosher at competitions abroad, she often brings a suitcase filled with kosher food with her.

Taekwondo career

Gatterer enrolled in her first fighting class at 9 years of age, and at 12 years of age she began studying taekwondo. She trains with the club Ahi Yehuda, in Jerusalem. She also trains at Wingate Institute
Wingate Institute
The Wingate Institute is a sports training facility located south of Netanya, Israel, established in 1957. Named after Orde Wingate, the facility serves as the host facility for numerous Israeli national teams as well as a military training base....

, near Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...

, Israel. She is coached by Avi Kadouri and Noa Shmida. Shmida believes that her primary attributes are her speed and strength.

In 2007, she won a gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in the under-55 kg class at the Austrian Open in Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...

, Austria, and bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

s at the Trelleborg Open in Trelleborg
Trelleborg
Trelleborg is a locality and the seat of Trelleborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 25,643 inhabitants in 2005. It is the southernmost town in Sweden.-History:...

, Sweden, and the Belgian Open in Herentals
Herentals
Herentals is a city and municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the city of Herentals proper and the towns of Morkhoven and Noorderwijk. On January 1, 2006 Herentals had a total population of 26,071...

, Belgium. She was ranked second in Europe in her weight class by the European Taekwondo Union
European Taekwondo Union
The European Taekwondo Union is the official governing body for all Taekwondo matters in Europe as a regional organisation of the World Taekwondo Federation. It comprises the National Taekwondo Federations of all the European member nations and regulates all Taekwondo matters on a continental basis...

.

In 2008, competing in the under-55 kg class she won gold medals at the Dutch Open in Eindhoven, Germany, the German Open in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Germany, and the Croatia Open in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

, Croatia. She also won a bronze medal at the Austrian Open in Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...

, Austria, and a bronze medal in the under-57 kg weight class at the Olympic Games qualification competition in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Turkey. Upon qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

, she said that she was a little surprised, and acknowledged that it is a dream of every sportsman.

She competed, at 20 years of age, on behalf of Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Israel competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. This was Israel's 14th participation in the Summer Olympics.43 Israeli athletes competed in Beijing, the largest Israeli delegation in Olympic history, the previous record having been 40 at Sydney 2000...

 in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, China. She was leading 3–2, with 18 seconds to go, before the end of her first round match against former European champion Martina Zubčić
Martina Zubcic
Martina Zubčić is a Croatian taekwondo athlete, who competed in the Women's 57 kg class at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China and won the bronze medal.- References :...

 of Croatia when she conceded a hit to her head, and lost 4–3. Her coach Noa Shmida later said that Zubčić's kick only grazed Gatterer's head, and asserted that it did not warrant giving Zubčić two points, asserting that from his point of view "it was not a significant blow". She came in tied for 11th place.

In 2009, competing in the under-57 kg class she won a gold medal at the British Open in Manchester, England.

She won the gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

 in the women's featherweight (−57 kg) division at the 2010 European Taekwondo Championships
2010 European Taekwondo Championships
The 2010 European Taekwondo Championships was held at the Yubileyny Sports Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from May 12 to May 15, 2010. -Men:-Women:-Medal table:...

 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Also in 2010, competing in the under-57 kg class she won a gold medal at the Dutch Open in Eindhoven, a silver medal in the Paris Open in Paris, France, and a bronze medal at the Belgian Open in Herentals. That year, she was ranked # 3 by the World Taekwondo Federation
World Taekwondo Federation
The World Taekwondo Federation is the International Federation member of the International Olympic Committee for the competition events of the martial art of taekwondo...

 (WTF).

In 2011, competing in the under-57 kg class she won a gold medal at the Trelleborg Open in Trelleborg, and bronze medals at the German Open in Hamburg and the Croatia Open in Zagreb. In October 2011, she was ranked third in the world in her weight class by the WTF.

External links

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