Two years ago, in the calm river water at the world rowing championships held in Austria, there was a sudden roar of joy from the Israeli boat.
It happened a moment after rowing Michal Feinblatt and her friends in the narrow and long vessel crossed the finish line and realized they were up to the task they were traveling for: they achieved the criterion that gave them the qualifying card for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Michal herself recorded a historic achievement at the same time: she became the first athlete in Israel to participate in the Olympics - and will now also participate in the Paralympic Games.
"It's great honor and pride," she does not wipe the smile from her face.
"I'm just as excited for Tokyo as I was for my Olympics in Athens, 17 years ago, when I was Jewish, I wish we could succeed together, all rowing with me in the boat, to bring a medal. It's every athlete's dream."
We meet at a training camp on the Sea of Galilee, just before Michal (37) and her friends set out to occupy Tokyo.
The other rowers in the boat are her brother Klein (31), who was seriously injured and blinded in Operation Eitan Cliff;
Simona Goren (39), who suffers from vision loss;
Barak Hatzor (36), who was wounded in the legs as a paratrooper in Jenin;
And Marlina Miller (25), the boat rudder, who is the only one without any limit.
They all sit in one boat and row in a column, each holding one paddle in his hands - and with coordinated forces fly the tool non-stop forward.
"At first it was hard for me to turn from an Olympic athlete to a Paralympic," she shares candidly.
"I thought, what about me and this? I did not label myself disabled. I knew I had a disability, due to a shoulder injury and the surgeries I underwent, but somewhere 'Paralympic' was perceived by me as something so negligible, that anyone who wants to engage in it - can. Today, when I am in this world, "I know it's really not like that. It's a sporty world with a lot of categories and a very wide range."
Their agenda is tough.
A morning workout that begins at sunrise and lasts an hour and a half, during which they cover strenuous 20-12 kilometers, rest until six in the evening - then another technique workout of an hour and a half.
Three times a week they also add a gym.
A brave and brave group, who do not give in to the scorching sun of August on the Sea of Galilee, with high motivation - and especially single pride.
"We became very connected," says Michal.
"We share with each other in disabilities, talk about everything. At first, for example, I felt very sorry for her brother. Today, there is no situation I will take pity on. I see how he functions, how present and active he is, and I am thrilled. We also have such black humor. We They say to her brother, for example: 'What, you do not see?'
In general, thanks to my entry into this world, I am much more sensitive to the issue of accessibility for the disabled in restaurants, on the beach and in general. "
In the boat (right), in the mixed rowing quartet.
Tires 20 kilometers strenuous in every training, Photo: Efrat Eshel
• • •
The Paralympic Games opened three days ago in Tokyo, in facilities where the Olympics were also held.
The games will feature 4,350 athletes from 170 countries, in 22 sports.
The Israeli delegation consists of 33 athletes - 18 women and 15 men - who will compete in 11 disciplines.
The mixed rowing quartet - Michal, her brother, Simona and Barak - belong to the Daniel Rowing Center, as members of the Warrior House in Tel Aviv of the IDF Disabled Organization. Usually, when they are not in competitions or training camps, they train in Hayarkon Park.
During the rowing they sit upside down in the direction of the boat movement, not actually seeing the road.
Two turn their oars to the right, two to the left - and the combined harmony stubbornly splits the water.
Michal is sitting next to the rudder, which, unlike the paddlers, lies with her gaze in the direction of the boat.
The rudder is the one that divides the rhythm and direction instructions, and reports on the terrain conditions and the location of the opponents.
The entire crew of the boat is in charge of the coaches, Reuven Magnaji and Dima Margolin, who also left with the delegation to Tokyo.
Michal admits that it "took her a while" to feel comfortable with the rest of the boat crew, but now she understands their strengths.
"I learned to appreciate the Paralympic athletes very much, because it is precisely from a place of serious injuries and disability that it is much more difficult to do a competitive-achievement sport, to persevere and succeed in it. It is in my eyes heroic and inspiring.
"Take, for example, Moran Samuel (a rower who won a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games; NA), or Noam Gershuni (a pilot who was seriously injured in the Second Lebanon War and played wheelchair tennis; NA). Look how inspiring they are." .
The Paralympic athletes and their games in Tokyo do not really get exposure.
Certainly not compared to the Olympic athletes.
"In the end, the story of every Paralympic athlete 'eats' every story of an Olympic athlete. At the Olympics, everything was broadcast from Tokyo - and this is not the case here. It's ridiculous. We train no less hard than the Olympians. I was there too. The media does not give it the same place. ".
• • •
She was born and raised in the secular Tel Giborim neighborhood of Bnei Brak.
Her mother, Tamar (61), is a medical secretary at Assuta Ramat Hachayal, and her father, Reuven (64), is an alarm technician.
She has three brothers: Dana (38), an IDF officer, Nir (33) and Rotem (29) - both high-tech workers.
According to her, she grew up in "Bnei Brak of yesteryear."
It still included secular neighborhoods, and everything resembled a small kibbutz.
"I was really a street girl," she smiles.
"We were not at home at all. All day street games, sidewalks, taking a ball and playing 80,000 games. My parents lived there until five years ago, and have since moved to Hod Hasharon. Lizette, my beloved grandmother, still lives in the neighborhood."
She was considered an energetic and energetic girl.
Already at the age of 4, her parents took her to a gymnastics class ("right under the house"), and several times a week they took a bus to the country in Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha - where she swam and also experienced ballet.
"I was a very strong girl. And in general, I had a childhood full of fun and activity."
At the age of 11, in the gymnastics club of Hapoel Bnei Brak, she was picked up by the club's judo coach, a hint from Mistblow.
"He saw how I functioned well with my body and invited me to an experience class with him. I came to one class - and contracted the bacterium. I continued both gymnastics and judo at the same time."
At the age of 12, she already won third place at the Israeli Judo Championships.
"I was good at it, so at the age of 13 I switched exclusively to judo. Arik Zeevi, who hinted at his coach, was with me at the club, and from there he grew up. In ninth grade, I traveled for the first time with the Israeli team to Siena, Italy. "Innocent like that. The youngest on the team."
In the competition she won first place in the weight up to 44 kg.
I continued to excel more and more in the industry - until the injury came and interrupted my dream of succeeding even more. "
• • •
Michal's private transition from the status of an Olympic athlete who won the Israeli Judo Championship eight years in a row (2006-1999) to the status of a Paralympic competitor - was not easy for her.
To understand how great her personal transformation was, one has to go back 17 years, to the summer of 2004. The Athens Olympics, held then, was the highlight of her glorious judo career.
The same Olympics in which Gal Friedman won the gold medal in sailing and Arik Zeevi the bronze medal in judo.
She arrived there, 19 years old, after four years as the Israeli champion for seniors (from the age of 15), and after setting excellent results in competitions in Europe as well.
In the Olympics itself she was less successful, and was defeated in her first battle by Thelma Monteiro from Portugal.
"It was one of the worst fights of my life, and to this day I have not watched it. I am not capable," she says.
"She knocked me down on the iPhone, even though it was hard to knock me down then. For years I was ashamed to say I was at the Olympics at all. I would mumble with my lips, because always the first question was 'What did you do there?'. Only years later did I realize the magnitude of my achievement. "And at such a young age."
In 2006, at the top of the podium, at her Israeli Judo Championships, Photo: From the private album
After the Olympics she continued to train, until one training, bitter and painful, turned her world upside down.
"After Athens, I continued to train at the peak of my strength. I was 20, I continued to win the Israeli championships, and I knew that at the next Olympics, in Beijing 2008, I would reach my peak, mature and ready, more mature, with experience.
"It happened one year before Beijing, on a routine day, in regular training. I came with a very high motivation to this training, which was held then in Hadar Yosef, and I did one fight too many. I trained there with Judai who was very strong. Most of my training I did in those days with the boys, because there was no training team for girls then like today.
"Then I made one bad move in my dominant right hand - and that's it. I felt a kind of paralysis. At first there was a very sharp pain in the elbow, and slowly it went up towards the shoulder. I could not move. I just could not move the hand in any way.
"I screamed in pain. These were excruciating pains, and it was not clear what happened there. They treated me immediately in training and took me home, to Bnei Brak. The next day I was examined at the Wingate Institute, and at first they thought it was some kind of prank.
For two weeks she rested, suffering from constant pain.
"I took painkillers and did not agree to give up judo. Two months after the injury the World Championships were held in Brazil, and I really wanted to participate in it. I trained for a few weeks, and even flew to a preparatory competition in Europe. I lost to someone I was supposed to win in every competition pretty easily. I just did not function.
"I came back to Israel and said, enough, I have to check it. I did an MRI - and the examiners' eyes darkened. In the photos they saw very big damage to the shoulder. Like, I could have torn everything. That's it. Urgent surgery at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba."
At the Athens Olympics, 2004. "Can't Watch It", Photo: From the private album
She underwent surgery knowing that according to the protocol, after half a year of rehabilitation she would be able to return to training and judo competitions.
Unfortunately, that did not happen.
"I underwent surgery on my shoulder, and there was drama. The surgeons were debating whether to finish everything with one surgery, or do two complementary surgeries after two weeks, because of the extent of the damage. In the end they decided to do one surgery. When I came out I felt really good.
"The day after the surgery a physiotherapist came and brought me a stick, a crutch like that, and said to me, 'Raise your hand.' I told her I could not move. I could not move it. Infernal pain. Can not sleep at night because there is no comfortable rest. Nothing helped. No painkillers. Crazy pain day and night.
"I felt like I was in a nightmare. It was a terrible time. Night after night I did not sleep. I only fell asleep with sleeping pills. It depressed me, and I lost weight. I was unable to raise a hand to brush my teeth, pick up my hair, basic things. I switched to an electric toothbrush. My mother collected my hair for me every day. I switched to a direct automatic car. I knew I had to learn to live with this pain.
"I had to get back to work quickly, to make a living. You see, even when I was an athlete, in an Olympic year, I did not have the conditions that athletes have today. I worked in a pizzeria every Friday-Saturday, six in the evening until six the next evening, a 24-hour shift. "A scholarship that ranged from NIS 1,500 to NIS 3,000, and my peak was NIS 5,000 when I met the criteria for the Olympics."
Half a year after the injury, Michal realized she could no longer return to judo, and took a fitness instructor course at the Wingate Institute.
At the same time, she completed a bachelor's and master's degree in physical education at the Kibbutzim Seminary.
"This activity gave me a ray of light, but it was not easy. I had to adapt to the fact that my body changed. In one of the classes at the seminar I jumped great for a run and gave a great sprint. Everyone said there, 'What do you want, she's an athlete, she was in the Olympics' - and I I was pleased, I felt special there.
"But when Danny Oren, who was the head of the Achievement Sports Unit, taught us volleyball at the seminar, I was frustrated. I could not reach the range of motion, let alone land a ball, and suddenly, from an Olympic athlete I felt like type B. I was really crying for Danny in the middle of class. I was nervous. That's very much the case. "
In the meantime, she found a job as a fitness instructor at Tel Aviv University.
"It turned me on to work with athletes. I was recruited to pick up a big project, and I was responsible for the physical abilities of all the youth departments from ASA Tel Aviv - handball and dormitories, boys and girls."
In rehabilitation after the injury.
"They did not describe such great damage," Photo: From the private album
In 2009, two years after the first operation, she underwent another operation, which also involved upheavals and struggles.
"I was looking for a doctor to operate on me. At Meir Hospital I had already been hospitalized for surgery - but in the end they decided it was a big risk to operate on me again. It was sad for me, but I still did not give up.
"I kept looking, and then a doctor came along who was kind of an angel to me: Dr. Eran Maman, from Ichilov Hospital.
My mother is a medical secretary, and she worked at a health fund with his wife, who is also a doctor.
Eran examined me and ruled: 'I can not leave you in this situation.'
I went into a series of tests and the second shoulder surgery.
"After the surgery I felt very, very great physical relief. Then the dream came back - to go back to judo, to the place where I grew up and shaped, I succeeded and I won. After a period of recovery from the surgery I went to practice it a bit, but I realized I could not really. "This time I will not return to judo for good."
Michal stops and wants to say something that is important for her to say: "I was an Olympic athlete and represented the country. But after the first surgery and the rehabilitation that followed, after realizing that I probably would not return to judo, I was left alone. How does it feel when the state no longer recognizes you?
"Everything I had to do on my own, and with my own money. All the rehabilitation and treatments. And it happens that the State of Israel gives its athletes scholarships - but does not have an employee-employer relationship with them. Then, when something happens to you and you no longer belong, you are left completely alone. "Because I did not have a pay slip when I was an athlete, but only a scholarship, I am fighting with the National Insurance Institute for my disability percentage, with the help of lawyers."
• • •
A year after her second surgery, Michal suddenly received an exciting phone call.
"It happened in the middle of my school day at the Kibbutzim Seminary. The Judo Association then had an accompanying committee, and its lawyer informed me that Shani Hershko had been elected head coach of the women's judo team, and that I had been elected his assistant. I was shocked. I think they wanted a woman coach. On their team, and there are not many women like me, who have coached in the field.
"I coached a bit in those days in Bnei Brak, a group of ultra-Orthodox girls and young girls, and another small group in Ramat Hasharon. This offer was an exciting closing circle.
"Obviously I agreed, and I had a very good year with Shani and the team. At the same time, I started working as a teacher, and today I am a physical education teacher at Meitar High School in Ganei Tikva. I also lecture at the Kibbutzim seminary."
She underwent another small operation in 2012, and began to adjust to her new condition.
"A better line has indeed started in my life, but think that as an active athlete I suddenly could not do anything with my body. I could not run, I could not ride a bicycle. I am very limited in my range of motion, and there is pain of course.
"Right hand is my dominant, and the injury was in my right shoulder. So there are no easy restrictions. If, say, I want to take a cup from a table, I will automatically extend my right hand, but it will only go forward to a certain limit. I can not fully straighten the hand .
She said she had gone through "many years" of rehabilitation at Wingate.
"Nimrod Moshe, who was the physiotherapist of the judo team and also worked at the Maccabi Health Fund, did a very successful rehabilitation for me, and I also did rehabilitative Pilates. Although I will not return to what I was, and I have already come to terms with it, It's much better today. "
• • •
Michal was exposed to Paralympic sports five and a half years ago, in a lecture by Paralympic rower and medalist Moran Samuel.
"I was teaching at Ohel Shem High School in Ramat Gan at the time. I brought Samuel to a lecture, after which we sat down for a cup of coffee. Moran said to me, 'I heard you were at the Olympics.' I explained to her that I was injured and underwent three surgeries.
"Then she said, 'There's a mixed rowing quartet in the Paralympics looking for a paddler. They just competed in the World Championships in France and were close to the criteria for the Rio Games. Want to join them? Maybe you're right?' I'm not disabled. I thought Moran lived in a movie. Paralympic? Me? And what about rowing? What about me and rowing? I had no idea what the industry even looked like.
"But Moran did not give up on me, she was determined. She told me that there is an Italian coach for the quartet, that she is just in the country, and that I must come and meet her. She really called me on this subject every day, until I was finally convinced and came to the Daniel Rowing Center.
"I was taken there for an examination by Dr. Rami Zack, the doctor of the Paralympic delegation.
He made me the initial classification, checked if in my physical data there is at all a case to consider me a Paralympic athlete.
And he literally told me the restriction points in movement at the elbow and shoulder.
At the end of the test he ruled that I met the minimum required to be a Paralympic.
10 limitation points it is considered a pass, and I had 12. There is actually a table, and weights all the data.
"I'm always asked, 'So how much disability do you have in Social Security?'
"That's not what matters. What matters is how limited the athlete is in his industry. I, for example, because of my limitation, cannot row in a two-row boat."
Michal joined Israel's rowing team at the end of January 2016 - seven months before the Paralympic Games in Rio.
"The category in which I compete in my team is rowing with one paddle. I quickly learned the secrets of the profession. My technique and coordination are good, because I was an athlete. Mostly I had fun going back to doing sports and getting another chance to play competitive sports. ".
She trained with the team for three months in an attempt to achieve the common criterion for Rio, but it did not happen in the end.
"We had a 'last chance' competition in Italy. We had to get to one of the first two places - but we got to third. We missed Rio in one place. Two seconds away from the criterion."
Realizing that she would not immigrate with her friends to Rio, she decided to leave.
"I was torn between rowing and the women's judo team, which I helped coach. The competition in rowing in Italy fell, for example, on the European Judo Team Championship that was preparing for Rio - with Jordan Jerby and Timna Nelson Levy. I was not there because of the rowing, And I felt a stab in the heart because of it.
"Once I realized we had no criterion in rowing, I swept back to coaching the team in judo. I said stop, I do not continue with rowing. I also thought in those days that in Paralympic sports we train less. How naive I was, because in practice training twice every day. Training is no less difficult. From Olympic sports. "
A few months after the Rio Olympics ended, coach Shani Hershko decided to bring in a foreign coaching staff - and Michal's work on the judo team was stopped.
"It was unpleasant. The team was a place where I could contribute, I was there for four years. Working with the girls very much filled me.
"It took me another year to deliberate, until I finally decided to go back to the Paralympic rowing. I again went through an international classification, which I found suitable to join, and I went back to training and spending day and night rowing.
"This time too it did not go easily. On the contrary, I had really serious pain, with a herniated disc in the neck. There were moments when I thought to stop - and this time forever. I did physical therapy, until I recovered and decided to continue. Today my shoulder is more fine, but I have headaches And sometimes the hand shakes. "
She joined the mixed rowing quartet.
"I discovered a very nice group in the boat, and there was no shortage of struggles over who would sit in it. We were three girls, with only two able to sit in the boat. We were constantly tested individually and in groups, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the Paralympic Committee Olympic sports. "
Three weeks before the competition to achieve the criterion for participation in Tokyo, it was decided that Michal and Simona would sit in the boat mixed with her brother and Barak.
"We went to the World Championships in Austria, in August 2019. This was in total my third competition in the field. To qualify for Tokyo, we had to finish in the top six out of 18 boats.
"We finished in sixth place so we were able to do it. It was a super exciting moment."
In the field of judo, by the way, she is still connected as the personal trainer of the judoka Gili Cohen - the only one in the Olympic delegation in Tokyo who did not win the team bronze medal, after she was injured and did not register for the competition.
"My age is amazing," says Michal warmly.
"Against all odds she went up to Tokyo, after beating Geffen Primo. She is an excellent athlete, and the situation she got into is not simple at all. She was unlucky that she was injured and could not participate in the team competition."
In addition, Michal also coaches judo at Maccabi Herzliya and Bnei Herzliya.
"I really enjoy it. Giving all the soul and professionalism I have gained over the years."
The rowing quartet that will compete in Tokyo.
From the right: Simona Goren, Barak Hatzor, Michal Feinblatt, her brother Klein and the helm Marlina Miller.
"I wish we could succeed", Photo: Efrat Eshel
• • •
She has no romantic love at the moment.
"I miss it," she honestly admits.
"I'm celebrating my 37th birthday just the day before our competition in Tokyo. Listen, go on a date in the evening after another grueling day of training, when I have to get up every morning at four-thirty - who has the strength for that?
"It hurt relationships I had, unequivocally, and I had significant relationships. Obviously I want a family and children, and I very much hope to find one. I was sure by the age of 30 I would get married and be a mother, but it did not happen.
"Right now I'm on hold dating because I'm focused on rowing. But it's something I'll dedicate more time to after the Tokyo Games. I'm open to connection and happy for love and intimacy. There are moments when I feel a little lonely, All right with myself. "
In the meantime, she has one more dream left: to stand on the Paralympic podium in Tokyo.
"It's the pinnacle of every athlete's ambition, and I know there will be a war there. The rowers from the UK are considered better than the rest of the team, and by a large margin. The actual battle, ours too, will be for 8-2 places. I think everything is open. Always."
erans@israelhayom.co.il