Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon won a gold medal Friday in the men’s 100-meter freestyle S4, his third career Paralympic gold medal and Israel’s second in as many days in Paris.
Dadaon, 23, finished the race with a time of 1:20.25, finishing nearly a second and a half ahead of the Japanese silver medalist. Dadaon had qualified for the final after setting a new Paralympic record in the heats with his time of 1:19.33. He also owns the world record in the event for his disability classification, with his time of 1:18.94 that he recorded at the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships.
The Haifa native was born with cerebral palsy and started swimming at 6 years old. He said Friday’s win was especially meaningful.
“I was able to represent the people of Israel, I have no words to describe [the feeling],” Dadaon said after winning, according to Haaretz. “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.”
Dadaon's earlier achievements
Dadaon won three medals at the Tokyo Paralympics: Gold in the 200-meter freestyle S4 (an event in which he set the world record), gold in the 50-meter freestyle S4 and silver in the 150-meter individual medley. He also won seven gold medals at World Championships in 2022 and 2023, and nine golds at European Championships between 2018 and 2024.
Dadaon, whose name is sometimes written in English as Dadon, won an Israeli Paralympic sportsman of the year award in 2023.
His medal follows the gold won by Israeli taekwondo athlete Asaf Yasur on Thursday.