Israeli swimmers bag 2 gold medals in European para championship

Veteran Inbal Pezaro, 31, and newcomer Ami Dadaon, 17, win in Dublin; sports minister tweets the two ‘bring honor to the State of Israel’

Michael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel

Israeli Paralympic swimmer Inbal Pezaro (Razi Livnat/Wikipedia)
Israeli Paralympic swimmer Inbal Pezaro (Razi Livnat/Wikipedia)

Israeli swimmers won two gold medals Monday in the European Paralympic championship held in Dublin, Ireland.

Veteran athlete Inbal Pezaro, 31, came first in her 200 meter freestyle final with a time of 2:54.91 minutes, barely edging out Italian Monica Boggioni, who stopped the clock at 2:55.24.

The second Israeli success on the first day of the 2018 World Para Swimming European Championships came just an hour later, when 17-year-old Ami Dadaon won the 100m freestyle race, with a new personal record of 1:25.40.

Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev tweeted her congratulations to the swimmers, writing: “You have brought honor to the State of Israel!”

https://twitter.com/ori_pearl/status/1029087504635518983

Dadaon, who made his breakthrough last year, was competing in his first men’s European championship.

Pezaro, who has been paralyzed since birth in her lower limbs, has represented Israel at the Paralympic games since Athens 2004, and has won a total of four silver medals and five bronze medals in those games.

She has also represented the country in countless other tournaments, with three gold medals in world championships — in 2002, 2006 and 2010 — as well as six silver medals and one bronze.

Both Pezaro and Dadaon are members of the ILAN Haifa swimming club.

Most Popular
read more:
If you’d like to comment, join
The Times of Israel Community.
Join The Times of Israel Community
Commenting is available for paying members of The Times of Israel Community only. Please join our Community to comment and enjoy other Community benefits.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Confirm Mail
Thank you! Now check your email
You are now a member of The Times of Israel Community! We sent you an email with a login link to . Once you're set up, you can start enjoying Community benefits and commenting.