What pride, what a journey. Pizzero (Photo by Getty Images, Clive Rose)
Although professional sports are the arena where famous athletes with supreme physical abilities star, sport is first and foremost a place that sanctifies excellence, competitiveness, ambition and self-belief, and in this sense there is nothing more inspiring than Paralympic athletes. They have always managed to excite sports enthusiasts thanks to their difficult and arduous personal journey, and thanks to the amazing path they have undergone, despite all the physical limitations and challenges that life has placed before them. Over the years, Israel has produced an impressive list of Paralympic athletes who have starred in the international arena and brought us not only medals, but mainly a lesson in life, and immense love and pride. So in honor of Walla's festive project! In cooperation with Toto, which marks 75 years of love for Israeli sports, it is time to recall some of them, praise and praise, and choose: Who are the favorite athletes in our history?
To choose the 75 most beloved athletes in the history of Israeli sports click here
Did not surrender. Samuel (Photo: Maged Gozani)
Moran Samuel has always been an outstanding athlete. She began as a basketball player, reaching the Israeli national basketball team, until at the age of 24 she suffered an outbreak of a congenital malformation in a blood vessel in her spine, and found herself paralyzed from the waist down. She did not give in, continued her sportsmanship, and switched to single-boat rowing. With the help of her determined character, willpower, dedication and hard work, Samuel became a world champion, won a Paralympic medal, two medals at the World Championships, and today she is also a mother of two, a physiotherapist and a lecturer, and it is no coincidence that she was chosen to light a torch at the Independence Day ceremony, to the glory of the State of Israel.
Hero of Israel. Gershuni (Photo: Maged Guzni)
Noam Gershuni made an entire country salute him. A former Israeli Air Force pilot, he was critically wounded in the Second Lebanon War in an Apache helicopter collision over Ramot Naftali. Gershuni's life was saved, in what doctors described as a "medical miracle." In rehabilitation he began practicing tennis at Beit HaLoham, and slowly became a leading tennis player on the Israeli team for the disabled. Six years later, he won a gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. To this day, Gershuni gives lectures, thanks to being the salt of the earth, a pilot, a disabled person and a champion - who achieved tremendous achievements thanks to willpower and motivation.
He represented Israel in eight Olympics. Shaziri (Photo: GettyImages)
Inbal Pizzero is also a symbol of strength, mental and physical, virility and constant ambition. At birth, she suffered from a complication of blood vessels in the spine, following which she suffers from paralysis of the lower extremities. She began swimming at the age of 5, and by the age of 17 had already participated in her first Olympic Games, with a silver medal in Athens. She went on and on, became a well-known name among sports enthusiasts in Israel, suffered ups and downs, fought for the rights of Paralympic athletes and equality in grants, competed in three more Olympics, including Rio 2016 where she arrived after pneumonia, and in total in four Olympics she won nine medals, in order to become loved and admired in every home in Israel.
Doron Shaziriis also an Israeli hero, who was wounded near the Beaufort post after hitting a mine and had his leg amputated. He developed a career in shooting, becoming one of the best in the world. He represented Israel in eight Olympics (!), an unprecedented achievement for an Israeli athlete, accompanied by achievements. From Atlanta 1996 to Rio 2016, he has won at least one medal each time, the last at the age of 49. After Tokyo, he announced his retirement, but will always be remembered as a tremendous athlete, who always maintained optimism and positivity, even in difficult moments.
A historic journey. Leibowitz (Photo: GettyImages)
Keren Leibowitz is another wonderful athlete, who brought a lot of respect to Israel. She was injured during an officer training course during her military service, and as a result of the injury she lost the ability to walk, but Keren is not one to give up. Vice versa. A woman who had been involved in sports all her life, refused to give in to disability, and concentrated on a sport that had always been especially close to her, which she could do despite her disability: swimming. She has one goal: an Olympic medal. It ended with a historic journey, thanks to determination and tough self-discipline, and at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Australia she fulfilled her big dream: 3 gold medals, including world records. In 2004, after breaking another world record and winning another gold medal in Athens, she was already named Israel's Athlete of the Year. In addition, she is a single mother of two sets of twins, proof that nothing stands in the way of desire.
His list of achievements is diverse, and unimaginable. Hagai (right) (Photo: GettyImages)
However, despite the impressive list, according to many, the greatest Paralympic athlete in Israel's history isBaruch Haggai. His list of achievements is varied and unimaginable: in 1964 at the 1967 Tokyo Olympics he won two gold medals, in table tennis and swimming. As a basketball player, he led the Israeli national team to tremendous successes, in the days when we were a wheelchair basketball empire: between 1981 and 1968 Hagai won seven gold medals at the European, World and International Championships. In 1980 and 1972, he won Olympic medals in basketball. In 1976 and <> he won gold medals in table tennis. In the past he was named to the world first team in handicap basketball, and over the years he became a senior coach and an admired figure. No wonder he won the Israel Prize in Sports and Body Culture for <>: there is something to be proud of.
In association with Toto
- 75 Years of Israeli Sports
Tags
- Inbal Pizzero
- Baruch Hagai
- Doron Shaziri
- Moran Samuel
- Noam Gershuni
