In the coming weeks, our community will be transfixed by the Paris Olympics. The Olympics motto was modified prior to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and it now reads in Latin Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter and Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together in English.

The original motto emphasises that the Olympics is about achievement in sport at the highest level. The adaptation identifies that there can be no competition without coming together and in a world that has been so divided in the past year, we can hope that the Paris Olympics becomes an opportunity to recognise and celebrate our differences while also acknowledging our shared humanity.

The Paris Olympic and Paralympic games has adopted an additional slogan which is reflective of this value, it is: Games Wide Open. Explaining the motivation behind adoption of this slogan, the President of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet, wrote, “It’s a power. The power to open our hearts and minds, to stop seeing differences as obstacles … our Olympic Games will be those of perfect parity. The power to write the greatest collective story of a whole generation, through everyone’s contribution, by giving room for everyone: all the territories, the expertise, and all those who wish to join us.”

The Olympics is always a special time but this one is extra special for our King David community. All of us are filled with anticipation and immense pride in our own KDS champion Alexandra (Sasha) Kiroi-Bogatyreva who will be making her Olympic debut for Australia in Rhythmic Gymnastics at the Paris games.  

While few athletes’ journeys to the highest level of competition are linear, Sasha has had to display the most extraordinary levels of courage, grit and determination to get where she has gotten to. Regardless of what happens in competition, she is a winner.

Our community has watched Sasha mature from a young age, where she would maintain a gruelling schedule of training and competition, including regular extended training camps in Europe, while ensuring that she always put her best efforts into her studies. Her dedication to her sport, led to the difficult decision to split her Year 12 over two years meaning that she did not get to graduate with her cohort. 

She enjoyed wonderful success at two Commonwealth Games where she won a gold, a silver and three bronze medals. On the eve of the Tokyo Olympics she experienced the heartbreak of missing out on making the final squad despite being ranked as Australia’s leading gymnast since 2018.

Sasha’s resilience in bouncing back from this crisis is testament to her character and incredible mental strength. Sasha knew that she needed to do something different and so decided to move to Baku in Azerbaijan to double down on her training and commit to the challenge of representing Australia at Olympic level. She needed to leave her family and friends behind and face the challenges of living so far away from home.

On a visit back to Australia last year, Sasha spoke to our Magid Campus students and described how since she was a little girl representing Australia at her first international competition in Spain when she was 11 years old she has carried “a bag of courage” that has grown with her as her challenges have continued to grow. She spoke of overcoming her nerves and not letting the fear of failure interrupt her love of the experience. She universalised this message for our students and said: 

“Looking back, my nerves and fear were unnecessary, it ruined the ability for me to enjoy the moments leading up to competition. I want you guys to remember that whenever you are nervous or anxious, in the end, you want to look back and remember how much fun you had, how amazing the experience was. The nerves don’t help you, unless you turn it into excitement and understand that these nerves will allow you to open new doors that may lead you to wonderful places.”

Alongside her commitment to gymnastics, Sasha is thriving in her law studies at Monash University. 

On behalf of the entire community we sent a video message to Sasha encouraging her and celebrating her achievements. In true Sasha style, her response was one of gratitude and humility. 

Sasha, we wish you B’hatzlacha! We are so proud of you and will be cheering you along through every baton twirl, hoop spin and ball catch.

Go Sasha and c’mon Aussies!