Lipton emotional after 10-medal Maccabiah triumph

Australian masters swimmer Alida Lipton has capped an extraordinary week in the pool at the 2026 Maccabiah Games in Israel, medalling in all 10 of her events – a goal that narrowly eluded her at the previous Games four years ago by one medal.

Lipton – who turns 60 later this month – won one gold, six silvers and three bronzes, across two action-packed days of swimming at the Wingate Pool on July 7 and 8.

She told The AJN on Thursday night that achieving a time that ‘surprised herself” when winning silver in one of her individual races felt equally as special as the gold medal she won.

That gold came in the 4x50m mixed medley relay, where Lipton teamed up with three Canadian swimmers in a composite team nicknamed the Commonwealth Squad.

“The Canadians I was with were guns – really elite athletes – and I was very proud to be in that team,” Lipton said.

Word initially spread that she and the three Canadians had won a second gold in the Commonwealth team on the first night, in the 4x50m mixed freestyle relay.

But the Maccabiah swimming events were being held concurrently with the Israeli national swimming championships, and the Israeli team that came first in that relay were competing in the Maccabiah Games only – not in the Israeli nationals – so it was confirmed that gold went to them, and silver to Lipton’s team.

Lipton’s other two relay silver medal wins came in the women’s 4x50m medley, and 4x50m freestyle, which she swam in with a Canadian, a Mexican, and a Chilean, as team “Maccabiah Mix”.

“Nothing beats being in an Aussie relay team made up of your training mates, and winning gold together, but the next best thing to that was being in a winning team with three Canadians,” Lipton said.

Among her three silver and three bronze medal performances in her individual 55-59 women’s races, Lipton was especially proud of her 100m breaststroke swim, in which she clocked 1:44.34.

“That was the fastest I’ve been in the 100m breaststroke since the last Maccabiah Games four years ago.

“My time was less than three seconds off that, and I’d had a shoulder reconstruction and two heart procedures since then.

“So, I surprised myself in that, to be honest, and I’m kind of still pinching myself.”

Lipton – who is the immediate past president of AJAX Footy Club – also claimed silver in the 200m breaststroke and 100m freestyle, and bronze in the 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly — medals she said she values equal to the gold.

“It’s not anything less if you get silver or bronze medals, which I like to call white gold and rose gold!

“They are all special.”

For Lipton, her achievements carried extra weight, given the emotional build-up to these Games, and the Australian team only having 14 athletes this time around, compared to more than 450 four years ago, due to the circumstances.

“We’re actually just so happy to be able to be here together, representing Australia, with Sam Parasol as our flag bearer,” she said.

“At our first gathering together before the Opening Ceremony, at a ceremony commemorating the 1997 Maccabiah bridge disaster, we immediately became a family, and that is what Maccabiah is all about.”

The Opening Ceremony itself left her overwhelmed.

“I still get emotional just talking about it. I felt really emotional for members of my team that weren’t there physically this time, but I felt like they were all with me [at the Opening Ceremony] in spirit, and I was representing them.

“Israel did a fantastic job with the Opening Ceremony, and when the Israeli team marched in, everyone in Teddy Stadium stood up and cheered as one.

“And it’s been so special getting to meet Jewish people from around the world here at the Games – the Mexicans, the singing South Americans, the Germans, everyone.

“And I’ve got to tell you, everywhere I go, when Israelis figure out I’m Australian, they are so appreciative of Australia having a team here, and they know about antisemitism around the world, including in Australia, and what happened at Bondi.”

With her swimming commitments now complete, Lipton heaped praise on the medals already won by fellow Aussies Barry Lipp (4 golds and 1 silver in the Maccabi Man 65+ men’s series), Joel Solomon (1 silver and 2 bronzes in men’s middle distance running), and Sam Parasol (bronze in the 70+ men’s table tennis singles).

“And hopefully, our small team will still be able to win another medal in the Games’ last few days, as our masters tennis players (Akiva Kremnizer, Lior Rauchberger, and Darion Pohl) are still in the hunt in singles and doubles.”