Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon wins Paralympic bronze, his 4th Paris medal and Israel’s 10th
Ami Dadaon competes during the men’s 50-meter freestyle S4 heats at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, Sept. 6, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon took bronze in the men’s 50-meter freestyle S4 competition on Friday, earning his fourth medal in five events at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Dadaon, 23, finished third with a time of 37.11 seconds, falling to Japan’s Takayuki Suzuki and Canada’s Sebastian Massabie. Dadaon had entered the event with the world record — 36.25 seconds, which he set in 2022 — but Massabie topped it with his time of 35.61.
Dadaon’s bronze is Israel’s 10th medal in Paris, topping its total of nine in Tokyo and clinching Israel’s first double-digit Paralympic medal performance since the 2004 Athens Games. Israel now has 394 Paralympic medals since the inaugural event in 1960.
Dadaon, who was born with cerebral palsy, competed in five events in Paris. Prior to Friday’s bronze, he had won gold in the men’s 200-meter freestyle S4 and the men’s 100-meter freestyle S4, and silver in men’s 150-meter individual medley SM4. In his fifth event, men’s 50-meter breaststroke SB3, he finished in fifth. Dadaon set a Paralympic record in the heats for the 100-meter freestyle.
Fellow Israeli swimmer Ariel Malyar had also qualified for the final in the 50-meter freestyle, finishing in seventh place.
Dadaon, a Haifa native, started swimming when he was 6. He won three medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, including two golds; 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.
Israel has a chance to add to its medal count this weekend in swimming and canoe. The Games conclude Sunday.
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