Israeli swimmer Ami Omer Dadaon won gold in the Men's 200m. freestyle and Mark Malyar won bronze in the men's 100m. backstroke on Monday, bringing Israel to a total of seven medals in the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics, including four gold medals.
At just 20 years old, Dadaon has previously won three gold medals in the 2021 European championships in Portugal – in the 50m., 100m. and 200m. freestyle races. This is his first time competing at the Paralympics; he will be competing in an additional three events before the end of the games.
Malyar, a Haifa-born athlete with cerebral palsy, is an experienced swimmer, having picked up the skill along with his twin brother as part of physical therapy as a child.
Since then, he has seen considerable success in competition, being named Athlete of the Year by the Israeli Paralympic Committee in 2017. He previously won gold in both the European and world championships and set a world record in 400-meter freestyle swimming. However, this is the first time he has ever been in the Paralympics.
On Sunday, Malyar won a gold medal in the men's 400m freestyle swimming competition. Moran Samuel won a silver medal in the finals of the Women's Single 2000 meters row, with an end time of 11:18.39 minutes.
Besides being a world-champion rower, Samuel is also a paralympic basketball player. This is her third Paralympics Games participation, and she already has a bronze medal from the Rio Paralympics under her belt.
Samuel was 24 when she suffered a spinal stroke rendering her paralyzed in the lower half of her body, but the life-altering change didn't stop her from continuing her training, switching from the Israeli women's national basketball team to the Paralympic one.
Malyar broke a paralympic record at the 400-meter medley swim on Saturday, coming in first and securing his place in the finals, finishing the heat in just 04:41:82 minutes.
Dadaon won a silver medal in the 150-meter individual medley competition on Saturday, bringing Israel’s total medal count in Paralympic swimming to three, after Iyad Shalabi also picked up gold in the 100-meter backstroke earlier in the week.
On Friday, Malyar won a gold medal and set a new world record in the 200-meter medley swim, completing his race in just two minutes and 29.1 seconds.