| Shoshana Ribner | |
| Birth Name: | שושנה ריבנר |
| Birth Date: | 20 February 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Vienna, Federal State of Austria |
| Death Date: | 29 June 2007 (age 69) |
| Club: | Brit Maccabi Atid |
Shoshana Ribner (also "Rivner", Hebrew: שושנה ריבנר; February 20, 1938 – 29 June 2007[1] [2]) was an Israeli Olympic swimmer.[3]
Shoshana Ribner was born in Vienna, Austria. Her family immigrated to Israel when she was an infant.[4] Ribner began competing as a swimmer at the age of 13. [5] [6] Her trainer, 24-year-old Nachum Buch, swam for Israel at the 1952 Summer Olympics.[5]
Ribner's son, Damon Fialkov, was Israel's 200-meter backstroke champion in 1981.[4]
Ribner joined the Brit Maccabi Atid swimming club of Tel Aviv at the age of 13.[5] She won gold medals in the 100-meter and 400-meter crawls at the 1953 Maccabiah Games.[4] [6] [7]
She competed for Israel at the 1956 Summer Olympics, when she was 18 years old, in Melbourne, Australia, in Swimming--Women's 100 metre freestyle.[3] She finished 7th in her heat, with a time of 1:10.3, and did not advance to the finals.[3] [4] She was the only female on Israel's 15-person Olympic team.[5] Her best time in the 100 meter freestyle was 1:09.3, and her fastest time for the 400 meter freestyle was 5:42.59, as of 1956.[5] That year she was named Israel's Athlete of the Year.[4] [8]
Ribner won two gold medals and two silver medals (including a silver medal in the 400 m) at the 1957 Maccabiah Games.[4] [9]
In 1998, she was named one of Israel's top 50 athletes in its history.[4]