Israel wins second gold medal at 2024 Paris Paralympics

The State of Israel maintained its victorious momentum at the 2024 Paris Paralympics on Friday, with Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon clinching a gold medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle for the S4 category. Dadaon had set a new Paralympic record earlier in the day.

Dadaon finished the race with a time of 1:20.25, nearly a second and a half ahead of the Japanese silver medalist.

A deeply moved Dadaon could be seen singing the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, as it was played in the stadium following his win.

“I was able to represent the people of Israel, I have no words to describe [the feeling],” Dadaon said after winning.

“When I’m in the water, I don’t think about anything, only the race. But now I know that I will sing Hatikvah during this time, that’s all I wanted – to represent the people of Israel in this period and to give them hope.”

“Giving hope to people is the added meaning of what we’re doing here. I have three more races to go. I hope every child and adult who sees this and is struggling knows that there's a light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.

Dadaon (23) was born prematurely and diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He began swimming at the age of six, initially as a form of rehabilitation. Dadaon is also set to compete in the Paralympic 150-meter individual medley, 200-meter freestyle, and 50-meter freestyle events.

The Olympic athlete is no stranger to Paralympic victories

At the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, Dadaon won a gold medal in the 200-meter freestyle S4, setting a world record at the time. He has also won gold in the 50-meter freestyle S4 and silver in the 150-meter individual medley. In 2022 and 2023, he won an additional seven gold medals during various World Championships and nine gold medals during European Championships between 2018 and 2024.

In 2023, Dadaon won an Israeli Paralympic "Sportsman of the Year" award.

Dadaon's victory in the 100-meter freestyle marked the second gold medal for Israeli athletes within just a few days of competition, following Asaf Yasur's gold medal in taekwondo on Thursday.

Another Israeli athlete, Adnan Milad, took the bronze on Friday due to a technical default. Milad (23), who lost his arm in an electrocution accident when he was 17, won the bronze medal in taekwondo after his Iranian opponent, Saeid Sadeghianpour, refused to compete against him.  

Earlier on Friday, Israel’s goalball team won its opening match against Brazil 8-4 in the group stage. The team wore yellow ribbons in their hair in honor of the Israeli hostages in Gaza.

One team member, Lihi Ben David, said they were “feeling the atmosphere, the crowd, the field" and that "every game isn’t easy but we have something to offer and we’ve started.”

In addition, Israeli wheelchair tennis player, Adam Berdichevsky, secured a win against Italy’s Luca Arca in his opening match of the men’s singles. Berdichevsky (41) lost his leg in a boating accident during a trip to Thailand.

He is a survivor of the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion and massacre on Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. Since the terror attack, Berdichevsky has been living in Eilat.

“For around two months after October 7 I barely trained,” he said. “I don’t know how I got here in good shape, but somehow I managed.”

“It felt incredible to play in front of this crowd. It’s just a first round but with all the love it felt like a gold medal, but I still have a long way to go,” Berdichevsky said.