Merlin Miller (; born 29 November 1950) is an Israeli former

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

player,

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis Adaptive sport, adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designe ...

player and para swimmer who competed in the

Summer Paralympic Games The Summer Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebr ...

multiple times.

Biography

Miller was born in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and emigrated with her parents to Israel when she was one month old. At nine months she contracted

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

and in 1966 she began practicing sports at the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled. At the

1968 Summer Paralympics The 1968 Summer Paralympics () were the third Paralympic Games to be held. Organised under the guidance of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), they were known as the 17th International Stoke Mandeville Games at the time. ...

Miller competed in two swimming events and gained medals in both: a silver medal in the women's 3×25 metre individual medley open event and a bronze medal in the women's 50 metre backstroke special class event. As a member of Israel women's national wheelchair basketball team Miller took part in the Paralympic Games in 1968 and again from 1980 to 1988. In these Paralympic games, the women's team won one gold medal (1968) and two silver edals (1980, 1984). Miller competed at the

1992 Summer Paralympics The 1992 Summer Paralympics (; ) were the ninth Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In addition, the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with mental handicap were held immediately after the regular Paralymp ...

in wheelchair tennis. In the women's singles tournament she was eliminated in the eighth final and in the doubles tournament she competed with Tikva Aharoni and reached the quarterfinal. From 1972 to 1999 Miller worked for

Elisra Elisra Group is an Israeli manufacturer of high-tech electronic devices, mainly but not exclusively for military use. It makes equipment for electronic communication and surveillance, missile tracking and controlling systems, radar and lidar eq ...

's economic department and in her retirement she is devoted to

papier-mâché file:JacmelMardiGras.jpg, upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti Papier-mâché ( , , - the French term "mâché" here means "crushed and ground") is a versatile craft technique with roots in ancient China, in which waste paper is s ...

References

External links