Iyad Shalabi
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Iyad Shalabi (or Eyad Shalaby, , ; born 16 July 1987) is an
Arab-Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...
Paralympic champion swimmer. Representing Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, Shalabi won two
gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...
s in
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
.


Early life

Shalabi is a
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
Israeli-Arab from
Shefa-Amr Shefa-Amr or Shefar'am (; ) is an Arab citizens of Israel, Arab city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In it had a population of with a Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim majority and large Arab Christians, Christian Arab an ...
, Israel.Kay Wilson (12 October 2021)
"The man who filled us with hope,"
''Christians for Israel''.
He is both deaf and
paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...
. He was
deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both hearing impairment, deaf and muteness, could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak ...
from birth, and at 13 years of age he became paralyzed in all four limbs in an accident in which he fell from a rooftop, leaving him wheelchair-bound."Paralympic swimmer Iyad Shalabi wins Tokyo gold, is 1st Arab Israeli medalist,"
''The Times of Israel'', 25 August 2021.
Broyer Almond (25 August 2021)
"Gold medal for swimmer Iyad Shalabi from the Haifa team in the Paralympic Games • Well done!,"
''Haipo''.
He has a deaf and mute brother.


Swimming career

He swims at the ILAn (Israel Association for Children with Disabilities) Rehabilitation and Sports Center in Haifa, Israel, and his coach is Yaacov Beininson. His father, Yusuf, goes with his mute son to all of his competitions."Iyad Shalabi,"
Israel Swimming.
He competes in disability classification S1, which is for those with the most severe activity limitations. At the 2007 Israel Swimming Championships for the Disabled he was announced as by the swimming committee as the Outstanding Swimmer for 2007. Shalabi represented Israel in the Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016 Paralympics. In 2017, a documentary entitled ''Swimming Against the Current'' was screened at the
Jerusalem Film Festival The Jerusalem Film Festival (, ) is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, It was established in 1984 by the Director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Israeli Film Archive, Lia van Leer, Lia Van Leer, and has since become th ...
which had been directed and produced by Arab Assel Abu Hjoul. It followed him as he prepared for the World Championships in Glasgow. Shalabi won a bronze medal in the 150-meter individual medley at the 2018 European Championships. He set the world record in his disability category for the 150-meter medley while winning a gold medal at the 2021 European Championships in England in May 2021. Representing Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, Shalabi won
gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...
s in
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
at the 100m backstroke S1 event (2:28.04; ahead of Ukrainian silver medalist Anton Kol) and the 50m backstroke S1 event (1:11.79; again ahead of Kol) at 34 years of age. Shalabi was the first
Arab-Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...
citizen to win an individual medal in either the Paralympics or the Olympics.
Israeli President The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the cabinet led by the prime minister. The incumbent president is Is ...
Isaac Herzog Isaac "Bougie" Herzog (; born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician who has been serving since 2021 as the president of Israel. He is the first president to have been born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence. Son of former Is ...
called him to congratulate him, and also congratulated Shalabi in a tweet, calling him a “champion” and “a symbol of power. We are proud of you for the gold medal. Well done!""Israeli-Arab swimmer Iyad Shalabi wins gold medal in Paralympics; Iyad Shalabi is the first Israeli-Arab to win a medal in a Paralympic or Olympic game and won Israel's first gold medal of the 2021 Paralympic Games,"
''The Jerusalem Post''.
Israeli Culture and Sports Minister
Hili Tropper Yehiel Moshe "Hili" Tropper (; born 22 April 1978) is an Israeli educator, social worker and politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for National Unity and served as a minister without portfolio in the thirty-seventh government fro ...
wrote: "Iyad is an inspiring man whose life has been full of victories. “And today, another great victory. Iyad ... filled us all with pride. We are proud of you, Iyad Shalabi!" Former Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
also congratulated him in a tweet.


See also

* Adam Maraana, Arab-Israeli swimmer *
Eduard Meron Eduard Meron (or Edward Maron; , ; born 1938) is an Arab-Israeli former Olympic weightlifter. Personal life He was born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed betw ...
, Arab-Israeli Olympic weightlifter *
Rifaat Turk Rifaat "Jimmy" Turk (; , nicknamed Jimmy the Rocket,"Rifaat Turk,"
Olympedia/
born 16 September 1954) is ...
, Arab-Israeli Olympic footballer *
Sports in Israel Sport in Israel plays an important role in Israeli culture and is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sport. The most popular sports in Israel have traditionally been Association football (mainly) and basketball (secondly) – with the fi ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shalabi, Iyad Living people 1987 births Israeli Arab sportspeople Deaf swimmers Israeli deaf people Israeli Muslims Israeli male swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Israel Paralympic gold medalists for Israel Paralympic medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Mute people S1-classified para swimmers Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics People from Shefa-'Amr People with paraplegia Sportspeople from Northern District (Israel) 21st-century Israeli sportsmen