Lelior was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is Jewish.[1][3][4] Her mother is painter and art teacher Eti Jacobi, and her father is Yochai Lelior, who owns a company that provides guidance and rescue services for travelers, such as those who become stuck climbing on a mountain.[5][6][3][7][4] She has a brother Ido, who is a medic in the Israeli Defense Forces, and a sister.[5][8][9]
Her sister Noa Lelior, two years younger than she is, is a professional surfer as well, who in 2015 decided to take the family to a surfing competition in France instead of having her bat mitzvah party - this in turn led her older sister Anat to see a bigger stage in surfing.[8][6][3][4] The sisters both attended Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium in Tel Aviv.[6] Referring to surfing, Anat said: "Some people don't know what their purpose in life is, Noa and I know."[6] Anat served as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces for two years; in Israel, military service is mandatory at 18 years of age.[10][11][12][13] She and her family all live in the same apartment in Tel Aviv, between the Carmel Market and the beach.[10][6]
Surfing career
Early years; Israeli championships
Lelior began surfing at the age of 5, when her father would take her out to the Mediterranean Sea at the coast of her hometown Tel Aviv.[3][14] She won her first Israeli women's title when she was 12 years old, and said: "I fell in love with winning."[10][13] She won the title every subsequent year until she turned 19 years of age.[15] Lelior's surfing club Galim is owned by Shlomi Eyni and Inbar.[16]
2018–21; World Surf League Europe Pro Junior runner-up
In 2019, she won the Burton Automotive Pro International Trials in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia at Surfest.[19] Lelior also won the 2019 Deeply Pro Anglet, a WSL Qualifying Series (QS) 1,500 event at Chambre d’Amour in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France, defeating Australian Isabella Nichols in the final, and moving Lelior to third in the European rankings.[20][21][22][12] She won bronze medals in the Cabreiroá Las Americas Pro Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and the Cabreiroá Pro Zarautz Basque Country in Spain.[2]
In 2020 Lelior was honored as a "Global Barbie Role Model," with a Barbie doll created in her image.[23]
In 2021 she won a bronze medal in the Estrella Galicia Caparica Surf Fest in Spain.[2] She said: "I’m meeting people like Owen Wright... I’m so stoked seeing these people. I’m just a kid, you know?... And now, here I am. I’m so hyped and honored to be surfing with some of the world’s best. I’ll be competing against my idols."[10]
She said: "It’s an amazing event.... It’s so nice seeing how surfing connects everybody ... on one love that is surfing... Everybody is a person, it doesn’t matter if he has the flag of Iran behind his back... or the Israeli flag. It doesn’t matter because we are all surfers and it breaks all boundaries... I have friends from Fiji, Costa Rica, and Iran."[21]
2021–24
Her hip injury ultimately necessitated hip surgery after the Tokyo Olympics, and Lelior then suffered an ankle injury that disabled her for six months.[5] Altogether, her two injuries kept her largely out of competitions for the two years.[8]
In August 2021 and 2022 Lelior won bronze medals in the Rip Curl Pro Anglet.[2][29]
In November 2022, Lelior won the silver medal in the Alaïa Open Winter Cup in Switzerland.[30] She also won the gold medal in women's surfing at the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel.[31]
In March 2024 Lelior came in 6th in the 2024 World Championships in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.[32] It was the best ranking ever by an Israeli surfer in the World Championships.[32] Lelior qualified for her second Olympic Games after her performance at the 2024 World Surfing Games.[33]