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JWR VerifiedFounding RecordJWR-2026-000259

Most Games Played in a WNBA Career

Record holder

Record value

580 games

Country represented: United StatesAchievement location: Seattle, Washington, United StatesAchievement date: 2022Current record

Verified by Jewish World RecordsHow we verify records

Sue Bird playing for the Seattle Storm in 2017

Sue Bird in WNBA action; relevant career image for her league-record totals.BDZ Sports / Amy Pearson / Wikimedia CommonsSourceCC BY-SA 4.0

Official record definition

The greatest number of regular-season WNBA games played by one player over a career.

Measurement methodology

Guinness World Records final career games-played total, corroborated by WNBA official records.

Measurement point: regular-season games played

Record story

Sue Bird established the record for the Most Games Played in a WNBA Career with a final career total of "580 games". This achievement represents the greatest number of regular-season games played by one player. Her career spanned from 2002 to 2022, with all games played for the Seattle team in the United States. The final record total was set at the conclusion of her career in 2022.

Bird initially surpassed the previous league record in July 2018 with her 500th game appearance. She continued to extend the new benchmark over subsequent seasons until her retirement. The final measurement of "580 games" played is documented by the WNBA's official records and is also listed by Guinness World Records. The achievement was finalised in Seattle, Washington, at the end of the 2022 season.

How JWR verified this record

Verification date
27 September 2026
Verification standard
JWR Verification Standard 1.0

Achievement evidence

Guinness World Records lists Sue Bird with a league-record 580 WNBA games, all with Seattle.

Superiority evidence

WNBA official material documents Bird breaking the record in her 500th game in 2018; post-career reporting confirms the final 580-game total.

Jewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Jewish eligibility verification

Evidence establishing that the holder qualifies as Jewish for JWR purposes.

  • A timeline of Jewish basketball star Sue Bird's legendary career — Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Achievement / record verification

Evidence establishing that the holder achieved the result and holds the record as defined.

  • Most Games Played in a WNBA Career — Guinness World Records

Superiority / counter-candidate verification

Evidence comparing the result with other candidates relevant to the record claim.

  • Sue Bird — WNBA career record context — WNBA

Jewish eligibility, achievement and superiority evidence retain their separate classifications and are never merged. Context and provenance are not presented as proof of the achievement. Restricted evidence and internal research notes are never published. Learn more about the seven-stage process on the verification page.

Sources & Verification

History

  1. Verified

    Verified according to JWR Verification Standard 1.0.

  2. Publishedv1

    Published to the official JWR registry.

  • Ágnes Keleti, 2021Ágnes Keleti
  • Sue Bird, 2024Sue Bird
JWR VerifiedFounding Record
Sports · Olympic Gamesmost / joint holders

Most Olympic Gold Medals Won by a Jewish Woman

Record holder

Ágnes Keleti&Sue Bird

Record value

5 Olympic gold medals each

Ágnes Keleti and Sue Bird are the joint holders of the JWR record for the most Olympic gold medals won by a Jewish woman, with five gold medals each. Keleti won five Olympic gymnastics golds across the 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne Games, as part of a ten-medal Olympic career. Bird won five consecutive Olympic basketball gold medals with the United States from Athens 2004 through Tokyo 2020, reaching her fifth on 8 August 2021. JWR’s comparison reviewed documented Jewish women Olympic champions across sports and found no eligible athlete with more than five official Olympic gold medals. Because the two athletes reached the same verified maximum through different sports and eras, the record is held jointly rather than broken by secondary criteria. The record value is therefore five Olympic gold medals each, with Bird’s fifth gold establishing the current tie.

Country represented
Hungary & United States
View full record
Jessica U. Meir in a NASA spacesuit
JWR VerifiedFounding Record
Space / Human Spaceflight / Distancefarthest

Farthest Distance from Earth Reached by a Jewish Woman

Record holder

Jessica U. Meir

Record value

428.9 kilometers

On 27 August 2026, a Cygnus XL reboost raised the International Space Station to an apogee of 266.5 statute miles, approximately 428.9 kilometers. Jessica Meir was aboard the station as part of Expedition 75, so she physically reached that maximum orbital altitude. JWR compares documented apogees on a like-for-like basis rather than mixing average altitude, perigee or launch trajectory values. Earlier missions flown by verified Jewish women were screened, including flights by Marsha Ivins, Judith Resnik and Ellen Baker. Their published maximum orbital values remained below the 2026 ISS apogee. The resulting record is a precise example of how a station reboost can create a new human altitude mark even without a new launch.

Country represented
United States
Achievement location
United States
Achievement date
27 August 2026
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Irving Jaffee, American Jewish Olympic speed skater, in 1928
JWR VerifiedFounding Record
Sports · Olympic GamesFirst

First Jewish Athlete to Win a Winter Olympic Gold Medal

Record holder

Irving Jaffee

Record value

4 February 1932

American speed skater Irving Jaffee became the first Jewish athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold medal on 4 February 1932. His record was set at the third Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, where he won the gold medal in the men's 5,000-metre speed-skating event. Official Olympic sources and Team USA medal histories confirm Jaffee as the winner of the race.

Country represented
United States
Achievement location
Lake Placid, New York, United States
Achievement date
4 February 1932
View full record