Hannah Knyazyeva-Minenko, the Israeli triple-jumper, came very close to winning a third medal for the Israeli delegation to the Rio Olympics when she finished 5th in the triple-jump final.
Israel has never won three medals in one Olympic games, with the best haul coming from Athens 2004, when windsurfer Gal Friedman won Israel's only gold medal ever, and judoka Arik Ze'evi won a bronze.
There are still several days left for the Israelis to win a 3rd medal to go with the bronzes for judokas Yarden Gerbi and Or Sasson.
Minenko wrote a Facebook post addressing the nation, telling of her tremendous desire and effort to make Israel proud.
"I came in 5th in the Olympics! I really, really wanted to bring home another medal for my country, Israel. For all of you. For me. I gave it my all. I tried to forget about the fact that I underwent serious surgery in March and that this was only the second high-level competition in which I took part since I recovered. I came here to win," Minenko opened.
"During the competition I improved my personal best for this year five times, and eventually got a 14.68 meter jump, better than I did in London four years ago." Minenko says the reason she eventually missed out on a medal had a lot to do with the unusually high level of competition, and not just her own performance. "This was a crazy competition in terms of the great jumps people were able to pull off. I feel like a winner! Even when not at anywhere near my best, I was able to come in 5th in the Olympics, and in track-and-field, the queen of sports. So we can be happy and optimistic for the future!" concluded the Israeli athlete, on a high note.