Ophira Assayag: 10 Facts on Her 53rd Birthday

As media personality Ophira Assayag turns 53, ten lesser-known facts about her life have been revealed. Assayag was born on October 6, 1973, the same day the Yom Kippur War began. Her mother went into labor during the war, and Assayag was born en route to Soroka Hospital. Her father, Eli, a combat engineer officer, was mobilized and did not know of his daughter's birth for several days.

Her name, Ophira, also has a wartime connection. She was unnamed for four days until her father called from the front. He chose the name Ophira, which was the Israeli designation for the Sharm El Sheikh area in Sinai at the time, linking her name and birth date to a dramatic period in Israeli history.

Assayag began working at age 12 in a hair salon in Dimona to help her mother, who was raising six children. After her military service, she worked at the Licensing Bureau in Be'er Sheva before entering journalism. She started by writing a sports column for a local newspaper and then moved to local radio.

Her first interview on the radio was with football coach Eli Gutman. Assayag became a prominent figure in Israeli sports broadcasting in 1996, working for Kol Yisrael and later Channel 2. A Knesset document from the early 2000s identified her as the most prominent woman in Kol Yisrael's sports coverage.

She joined the sports website ONE in 2000, starting as a news reporter and eventually becoming content manager. Assayag also produced and presented documentary films, including one about footballer Felix Halfon and another about Moni Fanan.

Assayag has been offered a Knesset seat three times but declined, believing she can have a greater impact through her media platform. She recently divorced Gili Mankin after 16 years of marriage and has since begun a new relationship with businessman Gil Shavit.