Michal Feinblatt (37), a former Israeli judo champion and Olympic athlete who competed in Athens in 2004, will in two days become the first athlete in Israel to participate in both the Olympics and the Paralympic Games.
Feinblatt will paddle vigorously in the waters of Tokyo with her mixed boat friends.
"I am very excited to be the first Olympics in Israel which is also Paralympic now. It is an honor and I am excited about these games just as I was excited about the Olympics. I am proud of that," she said in an exclusive and candid interview with the "Shishvat" festive supplement to be published the next day.
This will be a historic and groundbreaking moment in the history of Israeli sports.
Michal Feinblatt was a gifted Jew and won the Israeli championship for eight consecutive years.
She qualified for the Athens Olympics when she was just 19 years old.
The future was before her.
The Israeli delegation at the opening of the Paralympic Games, AP
"One Battle Too Many"
In the extensive interview in "Sitting", Feinblatt talks about the serious injury to her shoulder and elbow while training, three years after the Olympics and when she was preparing for another Olympics (Beijing 2008).
"I did one fight too many with Judai which was very strong. One bad move with my dominant right hand. I felt a kind of paralysis. I screamed in pain."
Feinblatt has since undergone a mask of agony, which included three shoulder surgeries and grueling rehabilitations, but has failed miserably to return to the field and engage in the judo industry.
In an interview, Michal tells how five years ago she was exposed to Paralympic sports with the help of Paralympic rower Moran Samuel, how she passed an international classification that determined that her injury was suitable for Paralympic sports, and how she integrated in the mixed rowing field (two men and two women).
Her boat is also paddled by her brother Klein, whose vision was damaged as a result of an explosive device exploding in a terrorist tunnel on the Gaza Strip border seven years ago, Simona Goren who loses her sight, Barak Hatzor who was wounded in the legs as a paratrooper and Marlina Miller, a pilot.
"It was hard at first," Michal shares.
"At first I thought 'what about me and the Paralympic'. Getting from an Olympic athlete to a Paralympic athlete was not easy for me. Today I am proud and excited to be such an athlete, precisely from the place of injuries and disability it is much harder to do competitive sport and succeed."
Her dream is to get a Paralympic medal, and she also tells of the black humor in the boat: "We say to her brother: 'What, do not you see?'" Accompanied by the Paralympic Committee and their training conditions they win and also shares her longing for love.
"I want a family"
"I miss it. Obviously I want a family and children and find one. At the moment I'm on a date because of the games, but after them - I'm open to a relationship and I'm happy for love and a relationship," she says.
