Moran Samuel ( he, מורן סמואל; April 24, 1982) is an Israeli paralympic basketball player and world champion rower. She was chosen to light a ceremonial torch on Israel's Independence Day in 2019. She represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

Early life

Samuel grew up in Karmiel, Israel, to a Jewish family. She began playing basketball in her hometown. During her military service in the Israeli Air Force,Moran Samuel: Paralympic rower, part-time basketball champ

Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

she was an outstanding athlete enrolled in a program that permits top athletes to complete their mandatory service while representing the country in sports as well; after her service, she played on the Israel women's national basketball team. In 2006, she suffered a spinal strokeTales of tragedy, trauma and inspiration behind Israel’s Paralympic medal hopes
Times of Israel timesofisrael Retrieved 17 August 2021 and became paralyzed in her lower body. After she recovered, she completed her academic studies at Haifa University and became a physical therapist, and then worked with the Paralympic Sports Association team on the re-establishment of the Israeli women's basketball team on wheelchairs.

Sports career

Basketball

Playing with the national women's basketball team, she qualified for the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship, held in

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

in 2011, and simultaneously joined the Beit HaLohem team in Tel Aviv, with Samuel being the sole woman in an all-male team. Beit LaLohem won the double championship in 2011. In 2013, she played for Israel at the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Frankfurt, with the team finishing in the seventh place overall. At this competition, she was voted one of the five best players in Europe titled "All Star Team".

Rowing

She switched to Para rowing because she wanted to represent Israel at the Paralympic Games. As part of her paralympic sport activities, and as suggested by her life partner, also a rower, she started to train in rowing in 2010 and represented Israel at the

2012 Summer Paralympic Games The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

in London, finishing fifth. Earlier that year, she won a race in single scull competition at the Adaptive Rowing Regatte in Gavirate, Italy, but the organizers did not have a copy of the Hatikva, Israel's national anthem; she asked for the microphone and sang it instead. In 2015, she won the gold medal at the World Cup event in

Lake Varese Varese Lake ( it, Lago di Varese) is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, in the north of Italy. It has an area of 14.5 km², a medium depth of 11 m, and a maximum depth of 23 m. It hosted the Canoeing European Championships in 2012, the W ...

, defeating the reigning world champion, Norwegian rower Birgit Skarstein. At the

2015 World Rowing Championships The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the Int ...

held in Lac d'Aiguebelette, France, she won the gold medal in the women's AS single sculls, thus earning a spot at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Also, she received the bronze medal in June 2016 at the World Rowing Cup in Poznań. Samuel took part in the torch lighting ceremony at the

2017 Maccabiah Games The 2017 Maccabiah Games ( he, משחקי המכביה 2017), also referred to as the 20th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-20), were the 20th edition of the Maccabiah Games. They took place from 4 to 17 July 2017, in Israel. The Maccabiah ...

in July 2017. Samuel won the silver medal in the arms only single sculls at the

2020 Summer Paralympic Games The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inter ...

in Tokyo.(August 29, 2021) It was after setting her personal best record in the repechage the day before.

Personal life

She is a lesbian. She has a son and a daughter in addition to her wife.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Moran 1982 births Israeli female rowers Living people Paralympic rowers of Israel Sportspeople from Tel Aviv Israeli women's basketball players World Rowing Championships medalists for Israel Lesbian sportswomen Israeli LGBT sportspeople LGBT basketball players LGBT rowers Paralympic medalists in rowing Paralympic silver medalists for Israel Paralympic bronze medalists for Israel Rowers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Rowers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Israeli Jews Jewish sportspeople