Israel breaks 20-year record with 10 Paralympic medals

By JNS

Israel won 10 medals, including four gold, at the 2024 Paris Paralympics which concluded on Sunday, in its best showing at the Games in two decades.

The competition followed the record-breaking seven Olympic medals awarded to Israeli athletes in Paris this summer.

Israel’s medal total at the Paralympics topped its performance at the Tokyo Games three years ago, when the delegation brought home nine medals, and marks Israel’s best showing since 2004, when it won 13 medals at the Athens Paralympics.

Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon won four of the 10 medals in the French capital.

Israel also made history with its first Paralympic medals in both taekwondo and goalball—its first medal in a team sport in 36 years.

Both games were held against the backdrop of the 11-month war against Hamas in Gaza, and the heavily-guarded Israeli teams faced both threats and boycotts.

The news from France lifted spirits in Israel as the nation girded for a possible Iranian and Hezbollah attack this summer, and as the plight of the hostages held in Gaza weighed heavily on the Jewish state.