Two former national-team apparatus gymnasts have won a landmark compensation case against the very institutions that trained them, after a Tel Aviv magistrate's court ruled that the Israel Gymnastics Federation, the Olympic Committee of Israel and the Wingate Institute failed to protect them from injuries that left both with permanent shoulder disabilities.

ONE reports that Judge Dr. Menachem Klein ordered the three bodies to pay a combined sum of roughly 1.6 million shekels, in what the outlet describes as a precedent-setting ruling for Israeli sports law.

According to the report, the case centred on repeated shoulder injuries the two gymnasts suffered while training with the national squad between 2008 and 2016. Despite recurring complaints of pain, the athletes were, for years, referred only to physiotherapy rather than to orthopedic or sports-medicine specialists.

Court-appointed medical experts found far more serious damage than the defendants had acknowledged. The first gymnast was assessed with 35% disability in each shoulder, while the second was found to have 20% disability in the left shoulder. The gymnastics federation, the Olympic Committee and Wingate had argued for a disability rating of only 10% per shoulder.

The court ultimately set the first gymnast's permanent disability at 23.05% and awarded him 1,118,000 shekels, while the second gymnast, assessed at 19.25% permanent disability, was awarded 505,000 shekels.

The gymnasts' attorney, Yaniv Gavish, argued during the proceedings that the sporting bodies had prioritised team achievements and competition participation over the athletes' physical health, according to ONE. He said the neglect led directly to surgeries the pair required and to the likelihood that they will need joint-replacement operations later in life.

The Wingate Institute, based near Netanya, has for decades served as the training base for Israel's Olympic gymnastics programme, while the Israel Gymnastics Federation and the Olympic Committee of Israel jointly oversee the sport at the national level — all three were named as defendants in the suit.

ONE did not identify the two gymnasts by name in its report. The ruling marks one of the first times an Israeli court has held national sporting federations and their training institute directly liable for long-term harm caused by inadequate medical oversight of young elite athletes.