Rotem Gafinovitz

Rotem Gafinovitz
רותם גפינוביץ
	Gafinovitz at the 2018 European Road Cycling Championships.
Personal information
Full name	Rotem Gafinovitz; Hebrew: רותם גפינוביץ'
Born	9 June 1992 (age 32); Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, Israel
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	52 kg (115 lb)
Team information
Current team	Hess Cycling Team
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Amateur teams
2011	Dura–Vermeer Cycling Team
2016	Jos Feron Lady Force
Professional teams
2013	Topsport Vlaanderen–Bioracer
2017–2018	WM3 Pro Cycling
2019–2020	Canyon–SRAM
2021	InstaFund Racing
2021	Bingoal Casino–Chevalmeire
2022	Roland Cogeas Edelweiss Squad
2023–present	Hess Cycling Team
Major wins
	Single-day races and Classics National Time Trial Championships; (2018, 2019, 2021, 2023)

Rotem Gafinovitz (Hebrew: רותם גפינוביץ'; born 9 June 1992) is an Israeli road cyclist, who rides for Hess Cycling Team.^[7]^[8] She participated at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships.^[9] Through May 2024, she had won six UCI races in her career, and had won the Israeli national time trial championships in road cycling four times. Gafinovitz represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in cycling in the Women's individual road race.

Early and personal life

Gafinovitz was born in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, Israel.^[7] She is 1.63 meters (5 ft 4 in) tall, and weighs 52 kilograms (115 lb).^[7]

Cycling career

Gafinovitz rides for Hess Cycling Team.^[7]

2015–23

Gafinovitz won the gold medal in the Israeli National Road Race Championships in 2015, and won the Israeli National Time Trial Championships in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023.^[7]

In September 2016, Gafinovitz was announced as part of the WM3 Pro Cycling squad for 2017.^[10]

Gafinovitz won the Tour of Arava in 2019.^[7] That year she was also sixth in the GC Gracia–Orlová.^[7] At the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus, she came in 9th in the Women's road time trial, and at the 2022 European Road Championships in Munich, Germany, she came in 18th in the Women's time trial.

Gafinovitz was 2nd in the Regiónom Nitrianskeho Kraja in Slovakia in 2023.^[7] She was 3rd in the GP of the Mayor of the city Žiar nad Hronom in Slovakia in 2023.^[7]

2024–present

Through May 2024, Gafinovitz had won six UCI races in her career.^[11]

2024 Summer Olympics

Gafinovitz represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in cycling in the Women's individual 158 kilometer road race.^[12] She said:

The Olympic Games have been my dream since I was 17, and this ticket to it is the proof for me that even if it takes time, one has to go on and not give up. This is true in sports, and it is doubly true in the current struggle for the return of the abducted in Gaza.^[13]

Gafinovitz cycled ahead of the pack for much of the early part of the race, but she was later caught by the peloton and fell to 77th place out of 93 riders where she finished, with a time of 4:13:42.^[14]