Inbal Pezaro ( he, ענבל פיזרו, born 26 March 1987) is an Israeli

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

swimmer.

Biography

Pezaro was born on

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Yizre'el Yizre'el ( he, יִזְרְעֶאל) is a kibbutz in north-eastern Israel. Located in the Jezreel Valley near Afula, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. In it had a population of . History After the Bahri dynasty, Mamlu ...

. At birth she suffered from a complex with

blood vessel The blood vessels are the components of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the human body. These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away ...

s at her

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

, which caused her to become paralyzed in her lower limbs. At the age of five she began practicing sports at the ILAN center in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, progressing to compete in national championships only six years later.

Swimming career

From the age of 12 Pezaro had been competing in international swimming competitions. Following her exemption from military service with the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF), she volunteered to service and was certified as a swimming instructor. She took part at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

and the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

. Pezaro won a silver medal on the opening day of the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, after coming in second place in the 100-meter freestyle competition. She set a new Israeli record with 1:12.57 minutes. Pezaro claimed her second medal, finishing second in the 200 meters freestyle S5 competition. Bela Hlavackova of the Czech Republic beat Pezaro in the women's 100 breast SB4, giving Inbal her third silver medal of the Beijing Paralympics. Pezaro emerged as one of the country's biggest stars in the Paralympics in Beijing. She won a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympics 200 meter freestyle, coming in at 3:38.20 minutes.

Honors

In 2002, she was honored to light a torch at the national

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

celebrations. In 2007, she was awarded "Sportswoman of the Year" title by the Israeli Association for Disabled Sports.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pezaro, Inbal 1987 births Living people Israeli female swimmers S5-classified Paralympic swimmers Paralympic swimmers of Israel Paralympic silver medalists for Israel Paralympic bronze medalists for Israel Paralympic medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships